The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has recently announced that within the next four years, India will have an equal number of undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats.
This means that there will be one PG medical seat available for all the MBBS graduate in India and all the doctors will be able to pursue higher studies.
An announcement from the Union Health Minister has come while he was addressing the 13th annual conference of the Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO) in Gandhinagar, adds PTI.
Eight years ago, India had 51,000 MBBS seats. Today, we have 1,00,226 undergraduate seats, and post-graduate seats grew from 34,000 to 64,000. We have set a target to make the number of MBBS UG and PG seats equal so that all our doctors get the opportunity to enroll in PG courses and get the best healthcare education,” the Minister said.
Medical Dialogues had recently reported that as per the sources in the Central Government departments, the UG and PG medical seats in India would soon become equal in number and the gap of about 40% between the intake capacity for UG and PG medical courses would also be bridged in the next 2-3 years.
Previously, the MoS Health Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar had informed the Parliament about the intake capacity for UG and PG medical courses. As per the data shared by the Health Ministry, currently, India has altogether 96,077 MBBS seats and 49,790 Postgraduate medical seats.
Further, there are 12,648 Diplomate of National Board (DNB) / Fellowship of National Board (FNB) PG seats available in the country along with 1621 PG medical seats belonging to the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS).
Since the PG medical seats are lesser in number, many MBBS graduates are forced to go overseas to pursue postgraduate medical education in various streams.
However bringing good news to the PG medical aspirants, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has now confirmed that there will be one PG medical seat available for one MBBS graduate in the next four years.
He also invited healthcare professionals from the Indian diaspora to invest in research and open hospital chains in the country with “assured business.” More than 70 countries will sign hospital-to-hospital, country-to-country, and country-to-hospital MoUs at the `Heal In India, Heal By India’ expo to be held in April-May this year, he said.
Under the `Heal in India’ initiative, the plan is to “invite the world to India” and offer “affordable and quality healthcare, wellness and traditional medicine,” the minister said.
“When we open a dispensary, we also need doctors,” the minister mentioned as he announced that the UG and PG medical seats will become equal in number in the next four years. The process has begun, and Gujarat is the best destination for medical travel, said Mandaviya.
“If you want to work in the health sector and want to build hospital chains, then I want to give you assured business. If you have a 50-100 bed hospital and get affiliated with Ayushman Bharat, you will get assured business and the opportunity to serve the public. If you want to run it commercially, you can do so under the Ayushman Bharat scheme,” he said.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said while India has successfully come out of the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are greater challenges ahead in the healthcare sector due to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
“The way forward is to provide innovative solutions which are also cost-effective and can be availed of by all sections of society,” he said.
Dr. Anupam Sibal, President of GAPIO, said it provides a platform for Indian-origin doctors practicing anywhere in the world to share their knowledge and exchange ideas.
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