1,200 more MBBS seats this year: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: Students in Telangana aspiring to become doctors would be getting 1,200 new MBBS seats from this academic year thanks to the addition of eight new medical colleges. The admission notification would be issued by the government in a couple of days. There would be 6,540 MBBS seats available in both government and private medical colleges for the students.

This was announced by Health Minister T Harish Rao at a press conference here on Monday. He said the addition of 1,200 new seats was first of its kind in the country. There were only three medical colleges (after Osmania and Gandhi) established in Telangana during the 70-year rule in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. But now the number has gone to 17 in the State.

"Our students used to go to foreign countries like Ukraine, China and others for MBBS courses with lack of availability of seats; but now more students will get opportunities," said Rao, stating that the government would add more colleges by next year. The government wants to have one medical college in every district. The minister ridiculed the comments of Union Minister G Kishan Reddy's that the Centre gave medical colleges. Rao said Reddy was lying. "The BJP leaders work less but talk more. The Centre did not give a single college to Telangana when it approved 157 medical colleges across the country. I leave the comments of Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Kishan Reddy to their conscience," he quipped.

Responding to the protest by doctors in the State, Rao said that his comments were twisted by some people. He had only said that everyone should be in their limits. The minister reminded that it was the State government which initiated action against RMPs and PMPs, who were doing operations, which they are not supposed to do.