Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh), Sep (IANS) Five new government medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh were inaugurated on Friday by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who believes that the new colleges will help improve tertiary and curative medical care and augment the public health system abundantly. 

After inaugurating the Vizianagaram Medical College built on area of 33 acres, the Chief Minister virtually inaugurated four other medical colleges built at Machilipatnam, Rajahmundry, Eluru and Nandyal. 

He said that the government has proposed to build 17 new medical colleges with a cost of Rs 8,480 crore to ensure that all 26 districts have one medical college each and an attached hospital. 

Specialised tertiary and curative medical care will be accessible to people of all districts, he said. 

Addressing the gathering of medicos and their faculty, the Chief Minister asked the students to become good doctors and serve the poor as people have great expectations from medical students. 

Committed to the welfare of weaker sections, the government has spent a whopping Rs 2,35,000 crore on DBT welfare schemes so far and the doctors also should help the poor with the same commitment, he said. 

With the new five new government medical colleges beginning their academic sessions, 750 new MBBS seats were added to the existing strength across the state. 

The new colleges were constructed at a cost of Rs 500 crore each. 

While five more medical colleges, being built at Pulivendula, Paderu, Adoni, Markapur and Madanapalle, will begin functioning next year, seven more colleges will be ready next year. 

When all new colleges and their attached hospitals resume activity, the number of MBBS seats will go to 4,735 from 2,185 with all colleges having an additional PG intake of 2,737 students. 

Currently, the number of PG seats stands at 1,767 that has gone up from 966 in the last four years. 

A total of 609 new PG seats have been added this year alone. 

With new medical colleges being established and hospitals getting modernised under Nadu-Nedu, the government has also filled up 53,126 vacancies in the medical and health department to meet the new demands, he said. 

In all five newly-inaugurated medical colleges that have almost completed the admissions for the present year, facilities like laboratories, IFPs, smart TVs, libraries, microscopic and digital equipment were provided for a hassle-free academic session. 

Going round the class rooms and the facilities, the Chief Minister inspected laboratories and photo exhibition besides spending quality time for photo sessions with students and faculty and interacting with them. 

On one of the IFPs, the Chief Minister wrote 'Not all angels have wings, some have stethoscopes', and affixed his signature. 

He said that the government has been upgrading the existing 11 medical colleges with an estimated expenditure of Rs 3,280 crore under Nadu-Nedu and new nursing colleges are also coming up adding an additional strength of 1,200 seats.