Published By: Sheen Kachroo
Last Updated: June 03, 2023, 17:03 IST
The Health Minister said Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is according utmost prominence to healthcare (Representative Image)
AP Health Minister said that when the TDP government demitted office in 2019, there were only 926 post graduate seats which now rose to 1,388
Five new medical colleges will be inaugurated in August and classes would commence from September, increasing the total number of MBBS seats in the state to 2,935, said Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Vidadala Rajini on Thursday. The Health Minister said Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is according utmost prominence to healthcare.
“In just five years’ time, obtaining permission for five medical colleges is a rare feat. This is a record in the history of the state,” said Rajini in a press note shared by the state government today. With 150 MBBS seats each, these five colleges will come up in Vizianagaram, Eluru, Nandyala, Machilipatnam and Rajamahendravaram, adding 750 seats to the existing 2,185. According to the Minister, in 100 years’ time, only 11 medical colleges could be set up in the southern state by the previous governments, beginning with the King George Hospital at Vizag in 1923 but Reddy managed to start constructing 17 more in just four years at an outlay of Rs 8,500 crore.
Besides these five, she said the remaining 12 colleges would also start functioning in the next two to three years. Further, she observed that when the TDP government demitted office in 2019, there were only 926 post graduate seats which now rose to 1,388 by adding another 462 seats. Rajini said that the new colleges and additional seats are a boon to Andhra Pradesh students as some of them need not relocate to other states for pursuing medical education.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)