During the Rajya Sabha discussion, central government informed the parliament that more than 5,800 postgraduate medical seats have been added during 2017 admission.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said:

"There are 479 medical colleges in the country with an intake capacity of 67,352 MBBS seats. 13,004 MBBS seats have been added in the last three years, In all, over 5,800 PG seats have been added this year(2017),"

The written reply was regarding the question in the Rajya Sabha that emphasized on increasing the number of doctors in the country will improve the doctor-population ratio in the country and government initiatives related to this.

The minister also added in his reply that to increase the availability of faculty and specialist doctors in the country, one-time increase in PG seats was permitted this year after the revision of teacher-student ratio.

Rationalization of Medical College Setup Policy:

The minister also said that Minimum Standard Requirements for medical colleges including the requirement of land, faculty, staff, bed strength and other infrastructure has been simplified and rationalized to facilitate setting up of new colleges in the country.

Minister also stated the government is ready to implement a centrally-sponsored scheme for setting up of new medical colleges in 58 districts in 20 states and union territories in underserved areas of the country. There are other centrally sponsored schemes for increasing under-graduate seats and post-graduate seats in the existing government medical colleges.

-- with inputs from PTI