Steps taken to meet increasing demand for doctors: Govt

New Delhi, Nov 27: Various steps have been taken to liberalise norms for opening new medical colleges, besides amending relevant MCI regulations to meet the increasing demand for doctors, the government said today.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Land requirement has been relaxed from 25 acres to 20 acres throughout the country (for setting up of hospitals)."

He also informed that permission has been given to set up medical colleges in two plots in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for a period of five years with certain provisions.

Azad further said postgraduate and graduate medical degrees of five countries - the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - have been recognised for practice in India.

Government has also revised the teacher-student ratio depending upon discipline and availability of faculty.

Replying to a separate question on setting up AIIMS-like institutions, Azad said, "Central government is setting up six AIIMS-like institutions at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh in the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna at an estimated cost of Rs 840 crore each."

Academic session for 50 MBBS students at each of the six new AIIMS has commenced from September, he said.

In reply to a question on sale of adulterated milk in National Capital Region (NCR), he said, "Out of the 199 samples of milk collected from April 2011 to October 2012, 31 samples were found to be violating the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act."

In all these 31 cases, prosecutions have been launched and cases have been filed in the court, the Health Minister added.