75,000 new medical seats in next 5 years: PM Modi

New Delhi, Aug 15 : In a bid to boost healthcare in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Independence Day on Thursday, promised to create 75,000 more medical seats over the next five years, adding to the existing over one lakh seats in the country.

"In the last 10 years we have increased the number of medical seats to nearly 1 lakh in the country," PM Modi said while delivering his eleventh Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

He lamented that children, mostly belonging to the middle class, are going abroad for medical education.

"Around 25,000 youths every year go abroad for medical education,” he said adding: “They go to such countries, that I get surprised when I hear about them.”

They spend "lakhs and crores" on medical education abroad, he said.

"So we have decided, 75,000 new seats will be created in the medical line in the next five years," Modi stated.

The PM noted that the government aims to “build such an education system in India that youngsters do not need to go abroad to study. In fact, we would want foreign students to come here and study.”

As per the government data, there has been an 82 per cent increase in the number of medical colleges in the country -- from 387 before 2014 to 704 in 2023.

In the same period, the total number of MBBS seats has also surged from 51,348 to 1,07,948 -- a 110 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also introduced the Rashtriya Poshan Mission. He emphasises the vision of 'Swasth Bharat' (Healthy India) as part of the broader 'Viksit Bharat 2047' initiative.

“‘Viksit Bharat’ should also mean ‘Healthy Bharat’, thus nutrition is of prime importance,” he said.

“The first generation of a prosperous Bharat must be healthy, which is why we have launched the Poshan Mission,” Modi further added.