PM urges private firms to set foot into medical education sector

Speaking after inaugurating a webinar on the Union budget announcements on the health sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the private sector to make a big presence in the medical education field, adding that Indian students have been going to many small countries for medical education despite the language barrier.

The Prime Minister said Indian students going abroad for study, especially in medical education, also result in hundreds of billions of rupees exiting the country as well. His remarks came at a crucial time when a large number of Indian students, many of them studying medicine, have been stuck in Ukraine following the Russian attack on that country.

He asked, “Our children today are going to small countries for study, especially in medical education. Language is a problem there. They are still going...Can our private sector not enter this field in a big way? Can our state governments not frame good policies for land allotment regarding this?”

He highlighted that the government has been working with the spirit of "one India one health" so that people in remote locations also have access to quality healthcare, further adding that quality healthcare infrastructure should not be confined only to big cities.

“It is our endeavour that critical healthcare facilities should be at the block level, at the district level, near the villages. This infrastructure needs to be maintained and upgraded from time to time. For this, the private sector and other sectors will also have to come forward with more energy”, Modi added.

He also asked the healthcare community to work with a set time frame on the task of taking these reforms forward with the help of technology, with a focus on improving the quality of medical education and making it more inclusive and affordable.