58 new Medical Colleges to come up by 2018: JP Nadda

New Delhi: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare,Mr. JP Nadda, stressing on the need for rapid expansion of Medical Infrastructure in the country announced the establishment of 58 new medical colleges in the country by 2018, at the cost of Rs. 11,000 crore.

Addressing a video conference at the Khaja Banda Nawaz Institute of Medical Sciences convocation on Sunday, the Minister said:

"We are trying to bring excellence in the field of medical education by bringing out Central schemes to set up new medical colleges across the country attached with existing doctors/ referral hospitals. Under this scheme, we would establish 58 new medical colleges by 2018 at a cost of ₹11,000 crore."

Mr. Nadda added that the addition of 5,000 postgraduate medical seats, bringing the total tally to 35,117 had been approved by the union government at various colleges and hospitals across the country, for the year 2017-18.He informed that efforts were on to provide a thrust to tertiary care by establishing- 11 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences

"In addition, super-specialty blocks are being set up in 70 medical colleges. Two National Cancer Institutes, 20 State Cancer Institutes and 50 Tertiary Cancer Care Centres are also coming up," he said.

The former Union Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, who participated in the event as chief guest, presented the degrees to students of the 2011 batch, in the presence of Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, President of Khaja Education Society and Head of Khaja Banda Nawaz Dargah.

"Hyderabad, Karnataka have remained backward in terms of education for decades. Students of the region had to move all the way to Hyderabad and other faraway cities for perusing their higher education. Now, with Article 371(J) of the Constitution in force, fighting educational backwardness assumed a momentum," he added talking to the Hindu.