New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, in a reply to a written question in Rajya Sabha, said that the number of undergraduate medical seats in the country has gone up from 51,348 before 2014 to 89,875 now, an increase of 75 per cent.
The Union Minister added that the post-graduate seats have risen by 93 per cent during the same period.
“Indian students who go abroad to pursue MBBS and obtain foreign medical qualifications have to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination to be registered as a medical practitioner in India,” said Mandaviya.
The minister said the government has taken several steps to further increase the availability of doctors in the country.
“The number of UG seats has increased from 51,348 before 2014 to 89,875 seats now, an increase of 75 per cent. Similarly, the number of PG seats has increased by 93 per cent from 31,185 seats before 2014 to 60,202 now”, Mandaviya said.
Steps taken to increase the number of medical seats include a centrally sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district/referral hospitals, under which 157 new medical colleges have been approved and 71 are already functional.
It also includes a centrally sponsored scheme for strengthening or up-gradation of existing state government or central government medical colleges to increase MBBS and PG seats and a central sector scheme for up-gradation of government medical colleges by the construction of super speciality blocks.
Further, for rapid growth in the number of allied medical seats in the country, the government has enacted the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) Act, 2021 and an interim committee has been notified under the provisions of the Act, the minister stated.
