Health Ministry urges 14 States and UTs to speed up the construction of new medical colleges

Medical Colleges 2022: Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan urged 14 states on Thursday to finish the construction of new medical colleges affiliated with district hospitals as soon as possible, scroll down for more details.

File Photo

Medical Colleges 2022: The nation's states have been urged to take proactive steps to advance new medical schools and medical education. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan urged 14 states on Thursday to finish the construction of new medical colleges affiliated with district hospitals as soon as possible. Additionally, directions were provided on how to begin your studies for graduate seats in these universities.

157 new medical Colleges have been sanctioned under this scheme since 2014, in three phases so far. The states/UTs that participated in the review meeting were Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, and Punjab.

Union Health Secretary urged the States to expedite the physical completion of projects to enable commencement of UG courses by academic session 2023-24."It was pointed out that since the scheme will conclude on 31st March 2024, hence all projects need to be completed in time. It was informed that a sum of Rs. 7,500 crores have been allotted for the schemes of Human Resources for Health (HRH) and Medical Education (ME) for the financial year 2022-23," said a statement by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

"However, due to the slow pace of expenditure of the States/UTs and since there has been no requisition for release of funds from the states, further release of funds by the Centre to States cannot take place. States were further informed that utilization certificates have to be furnished urgently without delay to enable the Centre to release balance funds," the statement added.

During the meeting, the Union Health Secretary emphasized zed benefits of newer technologies that enable quick completion and also high levels of conservation of energy."States were advised to explore and use locally relevant and green technology options, and steel composite structures for the projects which are yet to start. It was also pointed out that some of the projects seem to be languishing as the construction companies lack requisite experience regarding the building of hospitals and provision of associated specialized services," said the statement. 

The Government of India launched the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for "Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals" in January 2014, with fund sharing between the Central Government and States/UTs in the ratio of 90:10 for NE/ special category states and 60:40 for other states.