India saw 69% jump in number of medical colleges under PM Modi

The number of medical colleges stood at 387 in India in 2014, which reached 654 this year.

New Delhi | Updated: 09 February, 2023 11:21 am IST

94 of the 157 new medical colleges sanctioned by the government are already functional.

The number of medical colleges in India rose by a whopping 69 per cent since PM Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre in 2014.

The number of seats in undergraduate and postgraduate courses also saw nearly a double-fold jump during the period, according to the Union health ministry.

The number of medical colleges in India stood at 387 in 2014, which reached up to 654 this year, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed on Thursday.

While the number of medical seats in undergraduate seats increased by 48,415, postgraduate medical seats saw a jump of 33,414 in the last nine years.

In 2014, the number of total UG medical seats was 51,348 which rose to 99,763 this year, the minister informed. During the same period, seats available for PG students annually increased to 64,599 from 31,185.

The Modi government has increased the number of medical colleges and MBBS seats in order to boost the number of doctors in the nation, minister of state for health, Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha recently.

She also said that 94 of the 157 new medical colleges sanctioned by the government are already functional.

“Other measures taken to increase the number of medical seats in the nation include a centrally-sponsored programme for the establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading the district and referral hospitals,” Pawar told the parliament.

She also said that a centrally supported programme for bolstering or improving the existing medical colleges administered by the state or the Central government has been undertaken to increase the number of MBBS and PG seats in the country.

The government has sanctioned a total of 75 projects as part of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana’s (PMSSY) “upgrading of government medical colleges by the construction of super speciality blocks,” she added. Work on 60 of these projects has been completed.