Telangana CM Opens 9 New Government Medical Colleges, Bringing the Total Seats to 8,515

As part of the government’s declared goal to build at least one such school in every district of the state, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao virtually launched nine new medical colleges on Friday at different places around the state.

In the districts of Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kumram Bheem Asifabad, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Jangaon, Nirmal, Rajanna Sircilla, and Vikarabad, the new medical colleges are situated.

Speaking at the event, Rao said that Telangana was the only state in the nation where the state cabinet had authorized the establishment of 34 government medical institutions. The state already has 26 medical schools, and eight more are scheduled to open by the start of the next academic year.

He added that the state would produce 10,000 doctors per year with the opening of eight new colleges (both government and private colleges combined) in 2019. He noted that the number of medical seats in 2014 (when Telangana was formed and BRS came to power) was only 2,850 and that it is now 8,515 today.

Rao, popularly known as KCR, said that Telangana is making overall improvement and predicted that the once-backward Mahabubnagar area will now have five medical institutions.

He emphasized that any nation or state with a strong health system would be able to deal with a scenario like that successfully since the WHO believes that diseases like coronavirus may appear in the future.

He said Telangana is the only state in the nation with 22 MBBS seats per one lakh people, noting that the state is having several triumphs in the health sector.

In 2014, there were just 17,000 hospital beds in the state; now, there are 34,000. Rao said that this number will soon reach 50,000 and that oxygen facilities would be available in all 50,000 hospital beds.

Telangana is now generating 500 tons of oxygen to handle any emergency.

The chief minister said that in addition to constructing medical colleges in each district, he has given Health Minister T Harish Rao instructions to create nursing colleges and institutes to educate paramedical staff.

According to the NITI Aayog rankings for health-related metrics, Telangana was ranked 11th in 2014; as of today, it is ranked third, he said.

Rao also discussed the state government’s health-related welfare programs, such as the ‘KCR Kit’ and the nutrition kit provided to expectant mothers. Additionally, he noted that the state’s Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) had decreased.Senior officials, a nephew of CM KCR, and Health Minister Harish Rao were present.