Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated nine medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh, giving a boost to the state's medical infrastructure. The prime minister inaugurated the medical colleges virtually from Siddharthnagar.

Built at a cost of Rs 2,329 crore, the medical colleges are located in Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Jaunpur districts. While eight medical colleges have been sanctioned under a centrally sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges attached with district or referral hospitals, the one at Jaunpur has been made functional by the state government through its own resources.

Under the central scheme, preference is given to backward and aspirational districts. The scheme aims to increase the availability of health professionals, correct the existing geographical imbalance in the distribution of medical colleges and effectively utilise the existing infrastructure of district hospitals.

Under three phases of the scheme, 157 new medical colleges have been approved across the nation, out of which, 63 medical colleges are already functional.