NELLORE: Three of the seven medical colleges proposed in the State have received the Centre's nod, according to Union MoS Health Bharati Pravin Pawar.
In response to a question posed by YSR Congress' Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy on the status of the proposed medical colleges, the health minister told the House that the Union government had received the State's proposal for setting up new medical colleges at Piduguralla, Paderu, Machilipatnam, Eluru, Markapuram, Pulivendula and Vizianagaram.
Out of them, the ones in Piduguralla, Paderu and Machilipatnam were approved.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare administers a Centrally-sponsored scheme for establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals with preference to underserved areas and aspirational districts, where there is no existing government or private medical college.
Under the scheme, he said, 157 new medical colleges had been approved in three phases, out of whom 71 are already functional. As per the scheme's guidelines, State governments are the implementing agency, and they do the planning, execution and commissioning of the projects, he explained. Phase-III of the scheme was approved to establish 75 medical colleges.