With the objective of improving health care and sprucing up medical education, Union Health Ministry, Government of India has announced relaxation for establishment of new medical colleges. It is to be mentioned here that, as there was tremendous space constraint in urban areas, now the private sector would be allowed to set up medical collages on 10 acres of land instead of the present minimum 25 acres. This Announcement was made by, Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, recently.
Anshu kataria, Chairman, Aryans Group of Institutes (AGOI), said it’s a welcoming step. He said that, land is the one of the major Cost Component in the total project. Relaxing the land requirement from 25 acre to 10 acre would drastically reduce the seed investment in the project cost. He also welcomed the move of permitting the use of Govt. Hospitals under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Secondly, kataria added that because of High cost of projects only big corporates /Trust/Hospitals/ Entrepreneurs could establish Medical Colleges till date. But with the new norms, many new entrepreneurs would be attracted towards health care sector.
Dr. Zora Singh, Chairman, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Chandigarh, said that there is a huge gap between the demand & supply of qualified doctors in India .With the new norm, the number of medical colleges would increase, resulting in increase in the supply of doctors.
Dr.Singh added, the cost of establishment & running of medical hospitals involves huge cost .But with the new norms, the existing govt. hospitals would be used which would cut the cost drastically.
It is to be mentioned here that, according to planning Commission report, India Faces Shortage of about 6,00,000 Doctors, one Million Nurses, 2,00,000 Dental Surgeons, & a large Number of Paramedical Staff.
