As many as 20 new medical colleges, including nine in the public sector, will be opened this year, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India, Dr K K Talwar, announced on Sunday.
The country needs at least 60,000 fresh medical graduates every year to fulfil its requirements, while all the medical colleges in the country have been producing nearly 44,000 graduate doctors annually, Talwar said. He said that 20 medical colleges will be opened this year itself. Further, there has been a proposal to allow hospitals with a capacity of 300 beds to open medical colleges, in order to boost medical education in areas deprived of it till now.
Even in those hospitals where no surplus land is available, the college will be allowed to be built at a reasonable distance, said Dr Talwar. This relaxation, however, will be extended to states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhatisgarh only, where the number of medical colleges is much less, he added.
