A substantial climb in the number of MBBS seats in government and private sector medical colleges, is signaling towards significant growth and development in the medical education sector of Uttar Pradesh. The state currently ranks third after Karnataka and Maharashtra in the number of MBBS seats on offer. As per 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). The decision to establish AIIMS at Gorakhpur and Raebareli is also proving to be a milestone in terms of medical education and health facilities in Uttar Pradesh.
Escalating numbers of medical institutes & seats to foster the medical education sector of UP
Uttar Pradesh’s journey to become another important hub for medical education in the country through increased numbers of medical seats, came about after the Chief Minister of UP, decided to establish new medical colleges. In 2016, there were only 12 medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh. But between 2017 and 2019, foundation stones of 28 new medical colleges was laid, of which seven have already started their academic sessions.
Teaching and training will be started in 8 other new colleges by next year even while the construction of 13 new institutes will start soon. A government spokesman said that preparations were on to open many more medical colleges in the private sector as well. It is also being assumed that once new medical colleges begin their operations, the number of medical seats will go up to between 9,000 and 10,000.
The Uttar Pradesh government’s focal point is now lying on the role of paramedical staff, in effective running of the medical education and healthcare systems, towards which it has made planned efforts to train nursing and paramedical professionals in the state. About 3 years ago, there were about 500 institutes training nursing staff in the state, offering 21,000 seats to aspirants. Now, their numbers have increased 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.
