Lucknow: The new medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh, besides giving a boost to health infrastructure, would also create new job avenues for the youth and those wanting to make a career in the medical sector, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He virtually inaugurated nine medical colleges from Siddhartha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh. These nine medical colleges are situated in Siddharth Nagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Jaunpur districts.
"The image of Purvanchal, till now, was that hundreds of children die here due to encephalitis. Now Purvanchal will be known as a region that gives the light of health. This is the first time that so many medical colleges are being inaugurated at one go," he pointed out.
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He further stated that the previous government lacked the political will to ensure the welfare of the people. "They only ensured their own welfare and that of their families. The cycle of corruption ran very fast," he said in an obvious reference to the Samajwadi Party whose election symbol is a bicycle.
Meanwhile, eight Medical Colleges have been sanctioned under the centrally sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges attached with district/referral hospitals and one medical college at Jaunpur has been made functional by the state government through its own resources.
Under the Centrally sponsored scheme, preference is given to underserved, backward and aspirational districts. The scheme aims at increasing the availability of health professionals, correcting the existing geographical imbalance in the distribution of medical colleges and effectively utilise the existing infrastructure of district hospitals. Under three phases of the scheme, 157 new medical colleges have been approved across the nation, out of which 63 medical colleges, are already functional.