Centre's nod 750 more medical seats in 15 GMCs: Maharashtra sets aside Rs 360 Crore

Mumbai: Following the Central Government's nod for around 700 Postgraduate medical seats in Maharashtra, the State Cabinet recently decided to set aside Rs 360 crore for the purpose of increasing seats in the government medical colleges in Maharashtra.

Issuing a statement, the Medical Education Department of Maharashtra also informed that the Centre has approved the increase of 750 seats in 15 government medical colleges, reports TOI.

The decision for setting aside the money was taken during the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Government has approved of this amount as its own share of expenditure for increasing seats in the medical colleges.

This comes after recently the Central Government gave its nod for adding 150 MBBS and 692 PG medical seats to Maharashtra's seat matrix.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Union Health Ministry recently confirmed about this decision before the Parliament. Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya recently informed the Lok Sabha that 3495 MBBS seats have been approved under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Up-gradation of existing Government medical colleges to increase MBBS seats in the country. Under this scheme a total number of 150 MBBS seats are being added to Maharashtra.

Also Read: With 91,927 MBBS seats, 612 Medical Colleges operative in India: Health Minister gives breakup

Referring to the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for 'Strengthening and up-gradation of State Government medical colleges for starting new PG disciplines and increasing PG seats', the data revealed that 5930 seats (4058 PG medical seats in Phase I and 1872 seats in Phase II) have been approved in 22 States/UTs in 2 Phases. Among this, the Centre has approved 692 PG seats in Maharashtra, stated the data.

Later, confirming about this development, the officials from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) had informed that the inspection process had already been completed in some of the medical colleges, while the nod for the other medical colleges were being processed.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, in a recent statement, the Maharashtra Medical Education Department mentioned that the Centre has given its nod for increasing 750 seats in 15 government medical colleges. Consequently, the State Medical Education Department set aside Rs 360 crore as its share of the expenditure for this purpose.

Also Read: Maharashtra to get 692 more PG medical seats, 150 MBBS seats this year