511 PG seats increased in 9 Telangana Medical Colleges under Centrally Sponsored Scheme: MoS Health

Hyderabad: Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the Union Government has provided support to the State of Telangana for increasing altogether 511 Postgraduate medical seats in 9 medical colleges, Union Minister of State for Health, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Parliament on Tuesday.

She further informed that the Centre has provided support to Telangana under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) for upgradation of 3 Medical Colleges by setting up of Super Specialty Blocks. 

Besides, under the PMSSY scheme, AIIMS Bibinagar has also been approved, MoS informed the Upper House of the Parliament.

The Minister was responding to a series of questions raised by Parliament member Dr. K. Laxman. Dr. Laxman questioned the Minister about the number of MBBS seats allotted to Government and Private medical colleges in the country and also sought the State/UT wise and college wise data including the State of Telangana.

Further, the questions included if the Government has any proposal to increase the number of medical seats for undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses considering the shortage of specialized doctors.

Responding to these questions, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar informed that "Under the CSS for strengthening/ upgradation of existing State Government/ Central Government Medical Colleges to increase the number of PG seats, support has been provided to the State of Telangana for increase of 511 PG seats in 09 Medical Colleges."

Providing the data regarding the number of MBBS seats available in the Government and private medical colleges, Dr. Pawar added, "The Government has increased number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats. There is an increase of 71% in Medical Colleges from 387 before 2014 to 660 as of now. Further, there is an increase of 97% in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 101,043 as of now, out of which 52,778 are available in Government Medical Colleges and 48,265 seats are available in Private Medical Colleges."

"In addition to the above, there is an increase of 110% in PG seats from 31,185 before 2014 to 65,335 as of now, which includes, 13,246 Diplomate of National Board (DNB) / Fellowship of National Board (FNB) PG seats and 1621 PG seats in College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS)," she further mentioned.

The MoS Health has also provided the State/UT wise details of UG and PG seats in the country- including the State of Telangana. As per the data provided by the Union Minister, Telangana has altogether 46 medical colleges with an intake capacity of 7415 MBBS seats. Among these, 3015 MBBS seats are in 19 government medical colleges and 4400 MBBS seats are in 27 private medical colleges. In case of PG medical seats, Telangana has altogether 2548 MD/MS and 2723 DM/MCh seats available in the State.

Further addressing the question regarding the government proposal to increase the number of medical seats for undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses, the Minister informed-

Some of the measures/steps taken by the Government to augment the medical education facilities and to improve the medical standards in the country include:-

i. Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for establishment of new medical college by upgrading district/ referral hospital under which 157 new medical colleges have been approved, out of which 97 are already functional.

ii. CSS for strengthening/ upgradation of existing State Government/ Central Government Medical Colleges to increase the number of MBBS (UG) and PG seats. Under these Schemes support has been provided for increase of 4677 MBBS seats in 77 colleges, 4058 PG seats in Phase-I in 72 colleges and 3858 PG seats in Phase-II in 60 colleges in the country.

iii. Under “Upgradation of Government Medical Colleges by construction of Super Specialty Blocks” of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) scheme, a total of 75 projects have been approved, of which 60 projects are complete.

iv. Under the Central Sector Scheme for setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved. Undergraduate courses have started in 19 of these.

v. Relaxation in the norms for setting up of Medical College in terms of requirement for faculty, staff, bed strength and other infrastructure.

vi. DNB qualification has been recognized for appointment as teaching faculty to take care of shortage of faculty.

vii. Enhancement of age limit for appointment/ extension/ re-employment against posts of teachers/dean/principal/ director in medical colleges upto 70 years.