Centre exploring all options to increase medical seats: Nadda

Union minister J P Nadda on Monday said the Centre was exploring all possibilities to increase medical seats in colleges to overcome the shortage of doctors, particularly specialists, in the country.

Delivering the convocation address at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) here, he said the ministry would look into all options to increase the number of under graduate and post graduate seats.

The goal of the BJP-led NDA government was to reduce the inequality in availability and accessibility of health services, said the health and family welfare minister.

"The country faces a crippling shortage of doctors," he said.

The Centre is tackling this by rapidly increasing the capacity for training undergraduates and postgraduates in existing medical colleges and also by establishing new ones, he said.

"The need for specialist doctors is most acutely felt today. The ministry is exploring all options to increase the number of under-graduate and post-graduate seats in the country," Nadda said.

The minister also said the government has introduced the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test to ensure transparency and reduce corruption in the field of medical education.

"We have introduced NEET as a uniform, single entrance test for all students across the country, ushering in an era of transparency and leading to drastic reduction in corruption," he said.

Suitable amendments have also been carried out in the graduate and post-graduate medical education regulations for making common counselling for admission in medical colleges mandatory, Nadda added.