Uttar Pradesh is finally developing into a hub for medical education and a significant increase in MBBS seats in government and private sector medical colleges in the northern state is proof of this. The state now ranks third after Karnataka and Maharashtra in the number of MBBS seats on offer.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Medical Education Department's data, till three years ago, there were 5,100 MBBS seats in the entire state, which have now increased to 7,150 seats as compared with Karnataka (8,845) and Maharashtra (7,270).
Establishing new AIIMS at Gorakhpur and Raebareli has proved beneficial for the state in terms of medical education and health facilities.
Uttar Pradesh becoming another major centre for medical education in the country has been possible after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath decided on the opening of new medical colleges and also increasing the numbers of seats in colleges.
In 2016, there were only 12 medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh. But between 2017 and 2019, foundation stones of 28 new medical colleges were laid, of which seven have already started their academic sessions.
Teaching and training will begin in eight other new colleges by 2021, while the construction of 13 new institutes will start soon.
A government spokesman said that the state plans to open more medical colleges in the private sector and once it starts functioning the seat counts might go up between 9,000 and 10,000, adding that the UP government is focusing on the performance of paramedical staff in the effective running of the medical education and healthcare systems. The state is also working towards providing training like nursing and paramedical professionals.
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There were about 500 institutes training nursing staff in the state three years ago, offering 21,000 seats to aspirants. These numbers have doubled to around 750, and the number of seats gone up to 36,500.
Uttar Pradesh now boasts of 3,056 medical institutes, including those training paramedical staff.