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As many as 261 new medical colleges were opened in the past eight years — a 67 per cent increase — in the country, a report released by the central government said.
Since 2014, there has been a 96 per cent increase in the number of government medical colleges and a 42 per cent increase in the private sector, according to the report titled “Governance Reforms in Medical Education”.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the health ministry has set up 22 new All India Institute of Medical Sciences and undertaken projects to upgrade 75 government medical colleges, according to the report. MBBS classes have been started in 19 of the 22 new AIIMS, adding 2,037 undergraduate seats.
The report also stated that a scheme was introduced in 2014 to provide central funding for opening new medical colleges. Of the 157 colleges sanctioned under the scheme, 93 have become functional and 60 are expected to be open in the next two years, it said.
The National Medical Commission has also initiated several reforms and relaxations to increase postgraduate seats. To address the shortfall of specialists, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Science has launched two-year postgraduate diplomas in eight disciplines, which will increase the capacity by 2,000 seats per year, the report said.
“These disciplines have been carefully selected to cater to gaps in specialists at the secondary-care level, namely anesthesiology, gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, ENT, ophthalmology, family medicine, tuberculosis and chest diseases and radiodiagnosis,” the report stated.
