PM interacts with students who returned from Ukraine, in Varanasi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blamed previous governments for a large number of Indian students going abroad to pursue medical education and asserted that his dispensation has been working to augment the number of medical colleges so that students can enrol themselves within the country.
In an interaction with students who have returned from the war-hit Ukraine amid a large-scale evacuation exercise launched by the government under "Operation Ganga", PM Modi also empathised with those students and their families who have expressed their anger, even at him, after facing hardships in Ukraine.
"I think it is natural for them to feel angry in this crisis," he said, adding that they have been facing hardships and braving cold.
When they are no longer agitated and will begin to understand the magnitude of the exercise, they will show their affection as well, he said, as many students expressed their thanks to him and lauded his government for rescuing them when they had lost all hope.
A strong India is the answer to these troubles, PM Modi said, expressing his sympathies with the students who, he added, had to go through such an experience at a young age.
"If medical education policies were right earlier, then you would not have to go abroad," he said, adding that no parents want their children to go overseas at such a young age.
His government is working to correct the past mistakes, he added.
There were 300 to 400 medical colleges earlier, and they now number nearly 700, PM Modi said. The number of seats they offer has now gone up to 1.5 lakh from earlier 80,000-90,000, he said.
"My effort is that every district has one medical college. Probably, there will be more doctors produced in 10 years than the last 70 years," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)