Stressing the need for rapid expansion of medical infrastructure in the country to cater to the growing demand, J.P. Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, said that 58 new medical colleges will be established across the country by 2018 at a cost of ₹11,000 crore.
He was delivering a video-address at the convocation of Khaja Banda Nawaz Institute of Medical Sciences here on Sunday.
“We are trying to bring excellence in the field of medical education by bringing out Central schemes to set up new medical colleges across the country attached with existing doctors/ referral hospitals. Under this scheme, we would establish 58 new medical colleges by 2018 at a cost of ₹11,000 crore,” he said.
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5,000 PG seats
Mr. Nadda added that 5,000 postgraduate medical seats had been approved by the Union government at various colleges and hospitals across the country for 2017-18 taking the total number of postgraduate seats to 35,117.
He also said that the process of establishing 11 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences was under way to provide thrust to tertiary health sector.
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“In addition, super-specialty blocks are being set up in 70 medical colleges. Two National Cancer Institutes, 20 State Cancer Institutes and 50 Tertiary Cancer Care Centres are also coming up,” he said.
The former Union Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, who participated in the event as chief guest, presented the degrees to students of the 2011 batch in the presence of Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, president of Khaja Education Society and head of Khaja Banda Nawaz Dargah.
“Hyderabad Karnataka has remained backward in terms of education for decades. Students of the region had to move all the way to Hyderabad and other faraway cities for perusing their higher education. Now, with Article 371(J) of the Constitution in force, fighting educational backwardness assumed a momentum,” he added.