Edu-leaders

India will add 10,000 more postgraduate (PG) seats in medical education in two years’ time to plug the brain drain, said Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. “Several graduates have to travel overseas for their studies. For those millions mulling a move to overseas, I want to offer an additional 10,000 PG seats,” Azad said at the 94th convocation of the Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi.

The seats will be available in central and state medical colleges. Of the 10,000 seats, 4,000 will be available in the coming academic session.

Currently, India has about 13,500 postgraduate seats across the country. With the new announcement, the numbers are slated to reach to 23,500.

The Centre has also approved a scheme under which the health ministry will fund and upgrade all medical colleges run by the state governments. The emphasis, once more, would be on rural areas and colleges, on improving infrastructure in those places.