Union Cabinet approves setting up of 75 government medical colleges; move to add over 15,000 MBBS seats

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved on Wednesday setting up of 75 government medical colleges, to be attached with existing district or referral hospitals, by 2021-22. The establishment of these medical colleges will add at least 15,700 MBBS seats in the country. [caption id=“attachment_7243921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Piyush Goyal along with Prakash Javadekar addresses a press conference to announce the decisions of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. PTI[/caption] The medical colleges will be set up in under-served areas having no such institutes. These medical colleges will to attached with district hospitals having at least 200 beds, a government statement said. Preference will be given to ‘aspirational districts’ and district hospitals having 300 beds, it said. The proposal is part of the phase III of a centrally sponsored scheme for “establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district or referral hospitals”. The medical colleges would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 24,375 crore. The establishment of new medical colleges, to be attached with existing district and referral hospitals, would lead to an increase in the availability of qualified health professionals, improve tertiary care in government sector, utilise existing infrastructure of district hospitals and promote affordable medical education in the country, the statement said. “The scheme on establishment of new medical colleges would lead to addition of at least 15,700 MBBS seats in the country,” it said. Continuing the focus on creation of healthcare infrastructure, the government had earlier approved establishment of 58 medical colleges to be attached with existing district and referral hospitals under phase I of the scheme and 24 institutes under the second phase. Of the 58 medical colleges approved under the first phase of the scheme, 39 have already started functioning and the rest would be made operational by 2020-2021.