Centre Approves 320 PG Seats for Six Himachal Colleges, Rs 415 Crore Grant

Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh: Six government medical colleges in Himachal Pradesh have been approved for 320 new postgraduate, or PG, medical seats. The central government will provide a grant of approximately Rs 415 crore for the project, which is expected to give a boost to medical education and the availability of specialist health services in the state.

Bharatiya Janata Party state co-media in-charge Swadesh Thakur thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda for approving the new PG seats. He said the decision of the central government would promote medical education in Himachal Pradesh and also help increase the availability of specialist doctors.

The approved seats will be distributed among six government medical colleges in the state. Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, or IGMC, Shimla, has been allocated 91 seats. Medical colleges in Hamirpur and Tanda will receive 57 seats each. Medical College Nerchowk, Mandi, has been allocated 55 seats, while Nahan will receive 32 seats and Chamba will receive 28 seats.

Swadesh Thakur said the approval would give young people in Himachal Pradesh more opportunities to pursue higher medical education. He also said the new seats would help patients access better specialist treatment within the state.

Thakur said Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda is from Himachal Pradesh and has often shown his special attachment to his home state by bringing several major gifts and projects to the region. He said the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, or AIIMS, in Bilaspur had been built through Nadda’s efforts.

According to Thakur, the AIIMS in Bilaspur was completed in record time and now offers almost all kinds of health services. Equipped with machinery and other medical equipment worth crores of rupees, the Bilaspur AIIMS is providing better treatment facilities not only to patients from Himachal Pradesh but also to patients from neighbouring states, he said.

Thakur said the approval of 320 new PG seats in six medical colleges was another step in the same direction. He said the move would strengthen both medical education and specialist healthcare services in Himachal Pradesh.

He said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had discussed the issue of new PG seats in Himachal Pradesh’s medical colleges with Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda during the AIIMS Bilaspur convocation ceremony on 6 October. Thakur said the central government had taken Himachal Pradesh’s proposal seriously and approved the 320 PG seats without any delay.

Thakur also criticised the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh over what he described as fabricated allegations that the Narendra Modi government was treating the state unfairly because of political hostility. He said the approval had once again shown that those allegations were baseless.

According to Thakur, the truth was that the central government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was continuously supporting the development and public welfare of Himachal Pradesh.

He said that instead of making false allegations of discrimination against the Centre, the state government should complete the necessary formalities to start the PG seats within the stipulated time. This, he said, would help ensure that patients do not continue to face difficulties because of a shortage of specialist doctors.