Seats in medical colleges doubled in last 9 years: Min

Nashik: The central government is focused on providing quality medical education for producing better doctors and hence has doubled the intake capacity of medicos in the last nine years, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pawar said.

Pawar was addressing students at the bhoomipujan of the Maharashtra Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research being constructed by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), Nashik.

The foundation was laid by Dr Ashwini Joshi, secretary, department of Medical Education and Research, in the presence of MUHS vice-hancellor Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar (retd), National Medical Commission president Dr Aruna Vanikar, director, directorate of Medical Education and Research Dr Dileep Mhaisekar, past VCs of the MUHS and others.

“Prime minister Narendra Modi is focusing on ‘Heal in India and Heal by India. The stress is on producing more quality doctors. We have already doubled the intake of students for undergraduate courses from 51,000 annually to more than one lakh and that for postgraduate courses from 35,000 annually to more than 65,000 in the last nine years,” said Dr Pawar.

“We want people to come to India as the cost of treatment is very low so, Heal in India. Not only that we also want our medical professionals to provide health services abroad,so Heal by India,” the minister pointed out.

Dr Pawar also said that the post graduate medical college and research institute of the university has taken shape and appropriate cooperation will be provided from the government for the proposed government medical college in Nashik.

The minister also launched degree-plus programme of the MUHS, which is conducted through online mode.

Joshi said that the university has reached new heights in the field of health education. She said that regional centres of the MUHS were being developed on hub and spoke model and those needed to be strengthened by carrying out new activities for which financial assistance from the government will be provided.