Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday virtually inaugurated 11 government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. He also opened the new building of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT).
“In 2014, our country had 387 medical colleges. In the last seven years only, this number has gone up to 596 medical colleges. There were only seven AIIMS in the country before 2014 but now, the number of AIIMS approved has increased to 22,” said PM Modi.
“In the coming years, I envision India as being the go-to destination for quality and affordable care. India has everything needed to be a hub for medical tourism and I urge the medical fraternity to look at telemedicine as well. I have always been fascinated by the richness of the Tamil language and culture. One of the happiest moments of my life was when I got a chance to speak a few words in the world’s oldest language, Tamil, at the United Nations,” he added.
The state’s new medical colleges are located in the districts of Virudhunagar, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Tiruvallur, Nagapattinam, Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Ramanathapuram, and Krishnagiri, and would have a total capacity of 1,450 medical seats.
The new colleges are part of a federally funded initiative to create new medical colleges linked to existing district/referral hospitals. The new project will help over 1.5 crore individuals in these districts and surrounding areas.
The event was attended by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia.
