By: M. Sai Gopal
The Telangana government is keen on spending over Rs.160 crore exclusively to improve medical education and serious efforts are on to add 86 more post-graduate seats in the teaching hospitals from the next academic year itself.
At present, Osmania and Gandhi Medical Colleges in Hyderabad and Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal are offering a total of 516 PG seats and the same are likely to be enhanced to 602, with top health officials optimistic that it can be done without much difficulty.
Of the proposed Rs.160 crore, the government is aiming to spend close to Rs. 98 crore for a medical college in Nizamabad, Rs. 25 crore on Osmania Medical College and Rs. 19.5 crore each to Kakatiya Medical College and Gandhi Medical College in Hyderabad.
“This is for the fist time that the government has allocated funds separately to individual medical colleges. Funds are sufficient and once the money flows, the infrastructure of medical colleges like laboratory, hostel, library, buildings and classrooms will be improved to enable more seats to be sanctioned,” Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr. Putta Srinivas said.
With the recent MCI decision to approve 49 PG seats, which were about to expire by March 2015, health officials here expressed confidence of being able to retain the additional PG seats in future. “Apart from Rs. 150 crore, there is a separate allocation of Rs. 320 crore to teaching hospitals here. So, even from medical infrastructure side, things are set to improve. The MCI has also given a nod to eight super speciality seats at Osmania and Gandhi,” he added.
Osmania and Gandhi Medical Colleges in Hyderabad and Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in Warangal are set to see a major addition of PG seats in the coming academic year. Heath authorities are most likely to add 47 PG seats in OMC, 13 in Gandhi Medical College and 26 PG seats in KMC, Warangal.
Source: The Hindu