India needs 600 medical colleges, 50 AIIMS-like institutions, says Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday (September 25) that India needs at least 600 medical colleges, 50 AIIMS-like institutions and 200 super-specialty hospitals.

Gadkari called for the need to replicate the infrastructure development sector’s public-private partnership (PPP) model in the healthcare and education sectors.

“The public-private investment model in the road and infrastructure development sector can be replicated in healthcare and education sectors. The country needs a minimum of 600 medical colleges, 50 AIIMS-like institutions and 200 super-specialty hospitals. The government is also thinking of providing help to those social organisations that work in medical and education sectors,” the Road Transport and Highways Minister said in his speech, at the felicitation of COVID-19 warriors in Karad in Maharashtra.

Gadkari said that the cooperative sector should also come forward to set up medical facilities.

“Once during a discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I told him about the scarcity of ventilators. He asked me how many ventilators were there in the country, to which I replied there must be around 2.5 lakh. But he told me that there were only 13,000 ventilators when the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the country,” Gadkari said.

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Gadkari also said that although there was lack of oxygen, beds, and other medical facilities, when the pandemic broke out, the doctors, paramedics and nurses helped a lot during the time, which is worth appreciating.

“Apart from the government-run hospitals, the contribution of medical facilities set up by the cooperative and private sectors was commendable,” the minister said. He also stressed the need to have at least one veterinary hospital in every tehsil.

(With inputs from agencies)