State looking to add capacity in medical education sector

While students from India are forced to opt for medical colleges in countries like Russia and Ukraine due to paucity of seats in the state’s institutions, the Maharashtra government is looking to add capacity in the medical education sector by launching more government and private medical colleges.

“We have accepted the PPP route… the Centre has ensured streamlining for this. Even hospitals want to get into medical education to train manpower like nurses, paramedics, doctors and specialists,” said Amit Deshmukh, minister for medical education. He added that similarly, the state would also expand its capacity by launching medical colleges in the public sector.

“Both the government and the private sector will do this. If private entities take the initiative, we will encourage them,” said Deshmukh, adding that they had a policy to start government medical colleges in each district. Accordingly, work on medical colleges is under way at Osmanabad, Raigad, Sindhudurg, Nashik, Amravati, Parbhani, Nandurbar, and Jalgaon.

Maharashtra has 18 state government-run, 16 private unaided, five civic-run, three Central, one minority-run medical colleges and 10 deemed universities.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday urged the Central government to understand the seriousness of the situation and expedite the evacuation as students are going through very tough times in Ukraine. He also condoled the death of an Indian student Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, who died in shelling in war-hit Ukraine on Tuesday.

“Thousands of our students are still stranded in harsh weather conditions and without any food in Ukraine. I request the Central government and External Affairs Minister Shri S. Jaishankar ji to understand the gravity of the situation, the desperate plight and anxiety of these students and their families. The government of India must speed up the rescue efforts to evacuate the stranded students at the earliest,” Pawar said in a series of tweets.

“My Deepest condolences to the family of our Indian student Naveen Shekharappa who lost his life in a shelling attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv,” he added. Hindustan Times