Giving a big gift to Himachal Pradesh, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda has announced the approval of the Central Government to the proposal to increase 320 new postgraduate (PG) medical seats in six government medical colleges of the state. He told that the Government of India will give a grant of about Rs 415 crore for this.
Describing this as an important step towards the expansion of medical education under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, JP Nadda said that this will give more opportunities to the youth of Himachal to get higher medical education in their own state. Also, increasing the number of specialist doctors will help in providing better health services to the people of the state.
Referring to the swift decision taken by the Central Government on the proposal, the Union Health Minister said that the proposal was received from the Himachal Government on June 23. After this, this issue was also discussed with the Chief Minister during the convocation ceremony of AIIMS Bilaspur on October 6 and now the Central Government has approved all the 320 proposed seats.
He said, “The Central Government, working quickly on the proposal of Himachal, has approved all 320 seats. Now we also expect the State Government to take necessary steps at the same speed, so that the youth and common people of the state can get its benefits as soon as possible.”
These 320 new seats include 91 for Shimla, 57 each for Tanda and Hamirpur, 55 for Mandi, 32 for Nahan and 28 for Chamba. This will help in increasing the availability of specialist doctors and improving health services in surgery, orthopedics, gynecology, pediatrics, cancer and many other fields.
JP Nadda said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, many big steps have been taken in the last 12 years to expand medical education in the country. In this series, the Central Government has approved the plan to increase 10,000 new UG and PG medical seats across the country in the next five years at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore. Approval of 320 new PG seats in Himachal Pradesh is also part of this scheme.
The Union Health Minister urged the Himachal Government to take necessary steps to open all these 320 seats on time, so that the students can get the benefits as soon as possible. He also expressed the need to accelerate the work of other important development projects going on in the state with the help of the Central Government.
Nadda said that the pending matters related to the state government’s share and land in important railway projects like Chandigarh-Baddi and Bhanupalli-Bilaspur should be resolved soon. Similarly, there is a need to speed up the work of critical care blocks and public health laboratories being built with the support of the Central Government.
He said, “There should be no delay in the development works related to the interest of the people of Himachal. The Central Government is providing all possible support for the development of the state. Our expectation is that the State Government should also give priority to these projects and take necessary steps to complete them on time.”
JP Nadda said that the Central Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi is fully committed to strengthening medical education, health services and basic facilities in Himachal Pradesh. He said, “Our priority is clear, development of Himachal and welfare of every family of Himachal.”