Bhubaneswar: The government on Tuesday sanctioned 755 new posts in medical colleges and other medical education institutions of the state.

The sanctioned posts include seven professor, 35 associate professor, 50 assistant professor, 29 tutor, 248 senior resident, 190 junior resident, 112 casualty medical officer and 84 blood bank officer.

Health and family welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling said that the state government has given highest priority to the health sector. He said the goal is to provide advanced healthcare to people while strengthening medical education infrastructure. This decision will make Odisha’s health system stronger and set new milestones in quality medical education and healthcare in coming days, he added.

The minister said the decision aims to improve quality of medical education, create more doctors and provide better, faster healthcare to patients. Filling these posts will increase availability of teachers and doctors in medical colleges, positively impacting both education and patient care, he added.

In recent years, 250 new MBBS seats were added in new medical colleges. Besides, PG seats have gone up to 68. Officials said sanction of more teaching posts had become necessary due to increase in the number of seats in medical colleges.