Set up four more med colleges, state may urge Centre

MP | 13 Sept 2023 | Kolkata: With an aim to increase the number of doctors in the state and ensure better health infrastructure, the Bengal government is eager to set up four more medical colleges in the state. 

The state Health department will soon appeal to the Centre seeking a clearance. The state requires permission from the National Medical Commission (NMC) to set up new medical colleges.

 After coming to power, the Mamata Banerjee government has set up 23 new medical colleges. The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of many new medical colleges in the last one year. 

The Centre in June gave clearance for setting up two medical colleges in Bengal. One will be set up in Nadia’s Chakdah while the other will come up at Salt Lake. The Centre has set a target of opening a medical college in every district. 

There has been around 80.17 per cent increase in the health budget from 2010-11 to 2022-23. The figure shows that the budgetary expenditure in the health sector has increased by 80.17 per cent in the last 12 years. 

The state government has set up 43 new multi-speciality hospitals across the state, including a 300-bed facility for paediatric patients. Around 16 mother-child hubs have been inaugurated in the state and the government has also made sure that institutional delivery in Bengal is now over 99 per cent. 

Currently, Bengal has around 5,125 MBBS seats. The number of MBBS seats stood at 900 till 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee government came to power for the first time. Six hospitals across the state have recently been upgraded into full-fledged medical colleges and each will have 100 MBBS seats from the next academic year. 

These six hospitals are situated in Barasat, Uluberia, Arambag, Tamluk, Jhargram, and Jalpaiguri. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/set-up-four-more-med-colleges-state-may-urge-centre-532713