On July 28, the Government of India urged 14 states to accelerate the utilisation of funds and speed up the completion of new medical colleges attached to district hospitals approved under a Centrally-sponsored scheme for early commencement of undergraduate courses. As per a statement by the Health Ministry, 157 new medical colleges have been sanctioned so far under the scheme in three phases since 2014, as stated in a report by PTI.
On Thursday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan was reviewing the scheme with health secretaries and directors of medical education of 14 states and Union Territories through video conferencing. At this time, Bhushan highlighted the slow progress of the projects. Having said that, Bhushan urged states to expedite the completion of projects to enable the commencement of undergraduate courses by the 2023-24 academic session. Further, he stressed that as the scheme is scheduled to end on March 31, 2024, all projects need to be completed in time.
As per a report by PTI, Rs 7,500 crore has been allotted for schemes of Human Resources for Health (HRH) and Medical Education (ME) for the 2022-23 financial year. Further, the Ministry stated that due to the slow pace of expenditure by states and Union Territories and since there has been no requisition for funds, further release of money by the Centre cannot take place. Additionally, the states were also instructed that the utilisation certificates have to be furnished urgently to enable the Centre to release balance funds.
To recall, the government launched the Centrally-sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges attached to existing district/referral hospitals in January 2014. The states were advised by the Health Secretary to explore and use locally relevant and green technology options, and steel composite structures for projects which are yet to start. Consequently, the statement also highlighted that some of the projects seem to be failing to progress as some companies lack experience in building hospitals.
Representatives from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha and Punjab attended the meeting.
