India is a country having the largest population of youth contributing to around 22% of the entire population as of 2021. Youth, as we all know, is the strength of any economy if a quality investment is done for it to reach its maximum potential. It is thus crucial for India to take rigorous steps towards strengthening its education as well as healthcare infrastructure.
As a step in this direction, today the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi inaugurated 9 medical colleges worth Rs ₹2,329 crores, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, each situated in Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Jaunpur districts.
Out of these 9 medical colleges, 8 approved fall under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for “Establishment of new medical colleges attached with district/ referral hospitals” and the one situated in Jaunpur has been developed and run by the State Government through its own resources.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the launch of these new medical colleges in the state will make available 700 MBBS seats in the current academic session.
During the inauguration, PM Modi said, “The nine medical colleges will fulfil the dreams of a healthy India. They are a gift to the people of the state. These colleges will create over 5,000 employment opportunities and around 2,500 hospital beds will be added.”
For all the medical colleges falling under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes, preference will be given to underserved, backward and aspirational districts.
These 9 medical colleges have been inaugurated by the Prime Minister under the “Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana” (PMASBY). This national scheme is one of the largest pan-India schemes that seek to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and is an addition to the National Health Mission. Out of its many objectives, some of its key objectives is to increase the availability of health professionals, rectify the existing geographical imbalance in the setting up of medical college in different parts of the country and strategically make use of the existing infrastructure of the district hospitals.
The scheme is set to be implemented in three phases pan-India under which the setting up of 157 new medical colleges have been approved, out of which 63 medical colleges have already begun functioning.
As part of his visit to the state, PM Narendra Modi has also launched a handful of other development projects worth more than Rs 5,200 crore. These too, aim at improving and strengthening the country’s healthcare infrastructure by filling gaps in public health infrastructure. These projects are going to offer support to over 17,788 rural health and wellness centres in 10 high focus states. They will also work towards setting up 11,024 urban health and wellness centres in all the states.
