‘23 medical colleges set up after TMC came to power’

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has laid the foundation stone of 6 medical colleges in the past one year: TMC

KOLKATA: In a major infrastructural revamp in the health sector, the Mamata Banerjee government has set up 23 new medical colleges. The Chief Minister Banerjee laid the foundation stone of 6 new medical colleges in the past one year.

All India Trinamool Congress on Friday tweeted saying that Bengal is making steady progress in the health care sector. Around 23 medical colleges have been set up. Over 2 crore families benefited under Swasthya Sathi scheme. There has been around 80.17 per cent increase in the health budget from 2010-11 to 2022-23.

The figure shows that the budgetary expenditure in the health sector has increased by 80.17 per cent. State government has set up 43 new multispeciality hospitals across the state, including a 300-bed facility, for paediatric patients. Around 16 mother-child hubs have been inaugurated in the state and the government has also made sure that institutional delivery in Bengal is over 99 per cent. ‘It was a lowly 60 percent when we came to power in 2011, data say,’ TMC claimed.

The number of MBBS seats in the state is soon going to be increased by 600 giving a further boost to the existing health infrastructure of the state. There are currently around 4,225 MBBS seats in the state. If everything goes as per plan, additional 600 undergraduate medical seats will be added within the next academic year, sources in the health department said. Hence, the total number of MBBS seats would soon go up to 4,825. The number of MBBS seats stood at 900 till 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee government came to power for the first time.

Six hospitals across the state have been upgraded into fullfledged medical colleges and each will have 100 MBBS seats from the next academic year. These six hospitals are situated in Barasat, Uluberia, Arambag, Tamluk, Jhargram, Jalpaiguri.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also urged the Centre on a number of occasions to increase medical seats in the state. State government wanted to increase medical seats, given the fact that there is a big population. The need for more doctors was felt after the Covid had appeared. During the Covid waves, the state needed more and more hospitals with beds.

In February this year, the State government decided to increase 650 post graduate medical seats in Bengal, which will eventually strengthen the health infrastructure. Around 17 medical colleges across Bengal are going to get new seats.