Need to think about setting up more medical colleges: Ashok Gehlot

JAIPUR: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said the Ukraine crisis has presented an opportunity to consider increasing the number of medical colleges and seats in the country. The future of thousands of students forced to return to India due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is now uncertain.

In such a situation, a positive decision needs to be taken keeping in mind the future of these students, he said. Gehlot suggested that the Centre should change the rules of the Medical Council of India so that both government and private sectors can open more medical colleges. The Ukraine crisis has given an opportunity to consider the possibility of the central and the state governments working together to significantly increase the number of medical colleges and medical seats in the country, he said.

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Thousands of students from India go abroad for studies. Most of them go to countries like China, Nepal, Ukraine, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh etc. for medical studies because the expenses are less there. But when they come back, they have to give the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, Gehlot said in a statement. Most of these students are unable to pass the test and are also deprived of medical practice due to linguistic and curricular changes. In such a situation, it reduces the value of human resources of the country and all of them also suffer economic losses, he said.

The chief minister said the UPA government had started a scheme of opening government medical colleges in every district which is going on under the current dispensation. "Right now we are considering only one medical college in a district as sufficient but we cannot be satisfied with it. My suggestion to the central government is that the rules of the MCI should be changed and both the government and private sectors should be allowed to open more and more medical colleges," he said.

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The central government should have a comprehensive discussion on this issue with the states so that students do not have to go to other countries to study. This will also save the country's money and improve the medical systems, he added.