On the Independence Day on Thursday, in what could prove to be a big healthcare system revamp in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised an increase of 75,000 more medical seats within the next five years. According to him, this increase would be over and above the existing more than one lakh medical seats in the country.
"In the last 10 years, we have increased the number of medical seats to nearly 1 lakh in the country," PM Modi said in his eleventh Independence Day address from the Red Fort.
He added that he is concerned that lakhs of students, mostly from the middle class, are going to foreign shores for pursuing medical education.
"Around 25,000 youths every year go abroad for medical education," Modi pointed out adding, "They go to such countries, that I get surprised when I hear about them."
He further mentioned that students spend "lakhs and crores" on their medical education abroad.
"So we have decided, 75,000 new seats will be made in the line of medicine in the next five years, " Modi declared.
PM said that his government was committed to building an education system in India so that no student had to go abroad for studies. He also wishes that foreign students chose India as their destination for pursuing medical education.
Government statistics show that the number of medical colleges in India has increased by 82 per cent from 387 in the year 2014 to 704 in 2023.
At the same time, the number of MBBS seats has increased even more when it went up from 51,348 to 1,07,948—a jump of 110 per cent.
The Prime Minister also launched the Rashtriya Poshan Mission and said that 'Swasth Bharat' or Healthy India is an essential part of the overall 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.
“‘Viksit Bharat’ should also mean ‘Healthy Bharat’, thus nutrition is of prime importance,” he said.
“The first generation of a prosperous Bharat must be healthy, which is why we have launched the Poshan Mission,” Modi further added.
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