Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the government is making efforts to ensure each district of the country has a medical college.
He also said the gap in medical education and delivery of health services is being reduced and that the government’s focus is on preventive healthcare as well as promoting ayurveda and yoga.
In six years, more than 170 medical colleges have been completed and work on over 100 new medical colleges is going on at a fast pace, Modi said at a virtual ceremony to mark the foundation stone laying of four medical colleges and inauguration of the Institute of Petrochemicals Technology in Rajasthan.
“The Centre is making efforts that there should be one medical college or institution for PG (post-graduate) medical education in every district,” he said.
Talking about the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI), he said that questions used to be raised on its decisions and there were allegations on its transparency.
These had an adverse impact on quality of medical education and delivery of health services, the prime minister said.
He said the shortcomings in the health sector, which he felt as a chief minister, are now being removed in the country.
The Centre worked on a national approach and a new national policy to transform the health sector, Modi said.
“Health is a state subject and I know what difficulties are there, because I was also a chief minister. We worked on that. The problem here was that the health system was divided and there was a lack connectivity and collective approach at the national level,” he said.
“There was also a gap in traditional and modern medicine systems, and the shortcomings in governance also needed to be removed. Therefore, we started working on a new national health policy,” he said.