Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Friday inaugurated nine government medical colleges in the state calling the event a “very bright day in Telangana history. Of the many programmes that we have taken, this is one of the most satisfying.”
Rao said Friday not only marks another milestone for Telangana, but also proves all naysayers, who claim that the state cannot make any progress, wrong.
“With today’s nine new medical colleges, Telangana now has 26 government medical colleges in 26 districts. Next year, we will inaugurate eight more taking the overall total to 34 with one in each district. When Telangana was formed in 2014, we had 2,850 MBBS seats between private and government medical colleges and from today we will have 8,515 seats. Telangana will be the only state in the country from next year that will have 10,000 MBBS seats producing as many doctors annually. Of them, 85 per cent will be for students from the state. I congratulate the students starting on this historic journey and wish that they bring laurels to Telangana, the country, and to their profession,” he said.
The Chief Minister, who from Pragati Bhavan virtually inaugurated the colleges in Karimnagar, Kamareddy, Khammam, Jayashankar-Bhupalpally, Komaram Bheem-Asifabad, Nirmal, Rajanna-Sircilla, Vikarabad and Jangaon districts, said that the state government recognized very early the need for a robust healthcare system. Towards this, it is implementing a comprehensive medical education ecosystem.
“I have instructed health minister T. Harish Rao and health secretary S.A.M. Rizvi to set up colleges to train nurses and paramedical staff along with the new medical colleges. They are working towards this. Just as we have white blood cells in our body that protect us, the white-coated doctors will protect the society from possible future health challenges, which the WHO has said are possible,” Chandrashekar said.
He said Telangana was leading the country in medical education and overall healthcare delivery and Niti Aayog had said as per its indicators, our rank rose from 11 in 2014 to the present third.
“With 22 medical seats for every one lakh people, the state is ahead on this front, just as it is with eight PG medical seats per lakh population. We are on our way to have 50,000 beds up from 17,000 in 2014, including 10,000 super specialty beds. Each of the 50,000 beds will be equipped with oxygen supply,” the Chief Minister said.
On healthcare for pregnant women and new mothers, he said, the ‘KCR kit’ introduced by the state government not only provided materials needed for a new mother, even the ‘KCR nutrition kit’ is ensuring the much needed nutrition to pregnant women so that stunting among the newborn is avoided, he said.
Complimenting Harish Rao for starting the nutrition kits programme, he said “every step was designed to encourage institutional deliveries, which have risen from 30 per cent in 2014 to 76 per cent. I salute the doctors and the health department, whose work ensured reduction of maternal mortality from 92 per 1000 when the state was formed to 43 today, and for cutting down infant mortality from 39 per 1000 births to 21.”
Harish Rao said “opening of nine government medical colleges on a single day is also a first in the country and is proof of the Chief Minister’s determination to ensure that the state has a comprehensive healthcare system in place. Of all the MBBS seats introduced this year in the country, 43 per cent are from Telangana.”
