The number of medical colleges in the country have nearly doubled since 2014, signifies the information shared by government in the parliament. As per the information by Union Health Minister JP Nadda in Lok Sabha, the number of medical colleges in the country has risen to 731 from 387 in 2014.
The minister also added that the undergraduate medical seats in the country have also increased to over 1 lakh from 51,348. There is an increase of 118 per cent in the undergraduate seats and 133 per cent in the postgraduate seats.
During the discussion on demands for grants under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2024-25, the minister noted that, “There were 387 medical colleges in the country. The number now stands at 731. In addition, undergraduate medical seats have also increased from 51,348 to 1.12 lakh, marking a 118 per cent rise, while postgraduate seats have grown by 133 per cent."
Maintaining that people's health is the priority of the Narendra Modi government, the health minister claimed that under the leadership of PM Modi, the world's largest health scheme is being run in India.
News agency IANS noted the minister as saying, "The health budget in the year 2013-14 was Rs 33,278 crore, today that budget has been increased to Rs 90,958 crore. Before the first NDA government (Atal Bihari Vajpayee government), there was just one AIIMS in the country, during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, six AIIMS were opened. In the last 10 years of the Modi government, 22 AIIMS have been approved. Of these 18 are operational and four are under construction."
"About 12 crore families, that is more than 55 crore people, have been provided free treatment facilities up to Rs 5 lakh, under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. Around 1.73 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs have been established. The scheme, which provides free medicines and other health-related facilities including testing' has also 'reduced out-of-pocket expenditure from 62 per cent to 47.1 per cent' in the country," the minister added.