Union Health Minister urges 62 private hospitals to start medical colleges

The move is aimed at adding more seats which will help in providing quality and affordable medical education, he said

In a meeting on Monday with at least 62 private and charitable hospitals, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya urged them to think about introducing medical education in their respective institutes.

He said that when best hospitals would impart best medical education, their wide range of health infrastructure can be utilised towards learning by medical students.

“I am positive that of the 62 hospitals, at least 15-20 will apply with an intention to open a medical college,” said Mr. Mandaviya.

A few of these hospitals include Gurugram-based Medanta Medicity, the Breach Candy, the Jaslok and the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai, and the national health chain, Apollo Hospitals.

“Earlier, big hospitals were not keen to start medical colleges as they did not want to get into tedious paperwork. The land and seat allotment criteria was also stringent. We have tweaked a few of these criteria to invite more engagement from private and charitable organiations,” he added.

The Amrita Hospital in Faridabad, for instance, has already applied for opening a medical college. Similarly, the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust is keen on adding 50 medical seats in one of their 300-bed hospital set-ups, Mr. Mandaviya said.

Mr. Mandaviya added that while a fee fixation committee appointed by the central government had earlier said that medical colleges should not ideally charge beyond ₹10 lakh annually, colleges charge students separately under multiple heads leading to bloated fee structures in private medical colleges.