The UP government has planned massive expansion of health services by upgrading several district hospitals to medical college and extending modernised medical facilities in the existing medical colleges besides Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and Ram Manohar lohia Institute of Medical Sciences.
Minister for Medical Education Ashutosh Tandon announced in lucknow on Monday that soon the number of government medical colleges in the state would increase to 23 with the upgradation of 10 district hospitals to medical colleges.
“Five hospitals at Basti, Faizabad, Ferozabad, Shahjahanpur and Bahriach would be upgraded to medical colleges by this fiscal while Sultanpur, Mirzapur, Etah, lalitpur and Deoria district hospitals would be upgraded to medical colleges by the next financial year,” Tandon said.
Addressing media persons on Monday, Tandon said that the SGPGIMS in lucknow would get three new medical facilities soon including liver transplant and robotic surgery.
Talking about new facilities in government-run hospitals and medical colleges, Tandon said that six hospitals of Agra, Jhansi, Meerut, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Allahabad would have e-hospital facilities where hospital management system would start working very soon.
“Under this facility education curriculum, patient case history, attendance, medicines would be kept online for which the government has sanctioned Rs 10 crores,” he added.
The government has also set up a Medical Education Strategy Cell with eminent doctors in its panel for preparing a road-map to upgrade medical facilities in the state.
“In the past 15 years, successive governments have ignored medical sector but in the last six months, there has been a turnaround in facilities,” the minister claimed.
He also said that all government doctors have been suggested to prescribe generic medicines to patients and all district hospitals would have at least one generic medicine shop to cater to the people.
The minister claimed that seats in Post-graduate level as well as MBBS level in different government and private run medical colleges has already beeen increased and from this year, MBBS classes for 150 students would also start in RMl Institute of Medical Sciences, lucknow.
Tandon said that the state government was seriously looking to overcome the shortage of faculty members in government medical colleges, for which a Rs Medical Education Service Board’ has been set up. He said that the UP State Public Service Commission has been requested to fill vacant seats at the earliest.
The minister said that 16 Professors, 27 Assistant Professors, 83 Additional Professors and 126 lecturers have been hired on contractual bases to overcome immediate shortage of staff in medical colleges. He also informed that a Burn and Transplant Unit will bee added to the KGMU soon.