From the ramparts of Red Fort in New Delhi, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, addressed the nation on the occasion of 78th Independence Day today, August 15. 

"Around 25,000 youths every year go abroad for medical education and they go to such countries, I get surprised when I hear about them. So we have decided, 75,000 new seats will be created in the medical line in the next five years," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

The PM pointed out that medical seats have gone up to one lakh in the last decade yet, many opt for studying abroad and chose to spend "lakhs and crores" there. 

It may be recalled that recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in Rajya Sabha, had recently revealed that there has been an increase of 88% in the number of medical colleges in India, from 387 in the year 2014, it has gone up to 731 in the year 2024. 

MBBS seats went up by 118% from 51,348 in 2014 to 1,12,112 at the moment, as per a report by PTI.

There is also an increase of 133% in postgraduate (PG) seats from 31,185 in 2014 to 72,627 now, it stated.