Published By: Sukanya Nandy
Last Updated: September 16, 2023, 12:54 IST
UP has witnessed an 82 per cent increase in its medical facilities, rising from 387 in 2014 to the current count of 704 (Representative image)
Alok Kumar, principal secretary, of medical education, Uttar Pradesh said that preparations for an additional 763 seats have been completed, and work on further seats is ongoing
The Uttar Pradesh government plans to provide more than 800 postgraduate (PG) medical seats in government medical institutions/colleges across the state to improve higher medical education. The initiative to enhance the number of postgraduate medical seats will commence in the next academic year.
The move will primarily focus on improving the capabilities of institutions such as Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University (KGMU) as well as Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) along with Greater Noida’s Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Kanpur’s Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial (GSVM) Medical College, and other medical colleges in outlying districts.
The official handle of the Government of Uttar Pradesh shared a post regarding the same on X (formerly known as Twitter) stating that “after giving a push to healthcare facility, Uttar Pradesh now plans its biggest ever leap in higher medical education by adding over 800 PG medical seats across government medical institutions in the state from 2024 session onwards.” (sic)
According to a Hindustan Times report, Alok Kumar, principal secretary, of medical education, Uttar Pradesh said that preparations for an additional 763 seats have been completed, and work on further seats is ongoing. “This will be the largest increase in postgraduate medical seats in the state’s history, up from the current over 1,700 seats across government medical institutions,” Kumar added.
To ensure that the plan is not rejected by the National Medical Council (NMC), the medical education department has created a list of seats that can be added to each of the 35 medical colleges, as well as the deficiencies recognised by the institutions’ principals/heads, as per reports.
Additionally, the Uttar Pradesh government will reportedly add 150 seats to the 763 previously announced. The Medical Education Department seeks to supplement specialised care for patients in medical colleges located in outlying districts. As a result, the proposal includes assigning seats at autonomous state medical colleges (ASMCs) founded within the last five years.
According to a government notification issued in July this year, the state has witnessed an 82 per cent increase in its medical facilities, rising from 387 in 2014 to the current count of 704. Additionally, the number of available MBBS seats has surged by 110 per cent, climbing from 51,348 in 2014 to the present 1,07,948, while postgraduate seat offerings have grown by 117 per cent, ascending from 31,185 in 2014 to the current 67,802.
If Uttar Pradesh is successful in increasing the postgraduate seats, it will rank second in the country behind Maharashtra, which currently has 2,488 postgraduate seats, while Delhi has about 1,895 and Tamil Nadu has around 1,836 seats.
