Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also a known Diabetologist and Professor of Medicine, today said that the Government headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi aims at making  Medical Education affordable and accessible, so that no deserving candidate should face disadvantage because of socio- economic status. 

Addressing an Academic Meet, as chief guest, at one of India's most prestigious institutions, Stanley Medical College in Chennai, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, medical education has been one of the top priorities of this government, which can be judged from  the statistics that from mere 145 government medical colleges, the number has increased to 260. Under the Central Sector Scheme for setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved, while Undergraduate courses have started in 19 AIIMS, he added.

The Minister said, the number of MBBS UG seats have increased from 51,348 in 2014 to 91,927 seats which is an increase of 79%. The number of PG seats have increased by 93% from 31,185 seats in 2014 to 60,202 seats, he said. 

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the National Medical Commission has sought to revise the criterion for NEET UG, aiming to bring transparency into the medical admission process and stop backdoor admissions in colleges against the NRI quota. 

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that PM Modi has given a call to provide Medical and Engineering education in regional Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati & Bengali. 

"Medical education has commenced in Hindi and soon Engineering studies will also begin in Hindi and translation of Engineering books has commenced in eight languages across the country, and in times to come, students across the nation will be able to pursue Technical and Medical education in their mother tongue,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that India is being looked up to by the rest of the world in the field of healthcare after the successful handling of the pandemic. Technologically and in human resources, we are much ahead of most other countries, he said.

Thanking PM Modi for bringing ‘Preventive Health Care' into focus in the country for the first time, Dr Jitendra Singh said, under the leadership of PM Modi, in just a span of two years, India could produce two DNA vaccines and one nasal vaccine.

“The whole world recognised India’s leadership role during COVID-19, as it achieved the rare feat of delivering over 220 crore vaccinations through a fully digital platform – COWIN and the process continues,” he said, adding, “India, with 130 crore people, showed the way to the world in its fight against COVID-19 and also helped many countries particularly the neighbours with vaccines.”

The S&T Minister said, during the COVID even the West started looking up to India in search of immunity building techniques drawn from Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Unani, Yoga, Naturopathy etc.

“Healthcare sector in India is expected to grow to reach a size of $50 billion by 2025, while the global medical tourism market is estimated to be worth about $72 billion. India’s share in medical tourism is expected to be around 10 billion dollars by this year-end. Moreover, the country is the world's largest supplier of generic drugs,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was the farsightedness of PM Modi that soon after coming to power in 2014, he shared the powerful vision of ‘Digital India’ much before COVID-19 hit the world.

Dr Jitendra Singh asserted that Ayushman Bharat is so far the world's best health insurance scheme and credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that New India will become Atmanirbhar in healthcare only by integrating various sciences and domains of medicine.

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SNC/PK