Hyderabad, Dec 27,2022:  With 19 MBBS seats for one lakh population, Telangana now has the highest ratio of medical seats in the country, state Health Minister T. Harish Rao said on Tuesday.

The country’s youngest state has a total of 6,690 seats with a population of 3.51 crore (as per 2011 census). Karnataka stands second with 17.91 seats for one lakh population while Tamil Nadu is at third position with 15.35 seats.

Telangana has second highest ratio of PG seats in the country. For every one lakh population, the state has 7.22 PG seats. Karnataka stands first with 9.06 seats for the same population.

The Health Minister said that under visionary leadership of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana is shining like a diamond in medical education, despite Central government’s discrimination in allotting medical colleges. He stated that BJP-ruled states are not even in competition.

The minister said that the measures taken by the Chief Minister to make medical education accessible are yielding the results.

The state set a new record this year with a student who had secured 8,78,280st rank in NEET, got an MBBS seat under B category. With eight new medical colleges, the state now has added 1,150 MBBS seats.

Harish Rao pointed out that the Chief Minister had already decided to set up one medical college in every district. As part of this, after the formation of Telangana, four medical colleges were started and by setting up eight new medical colleges in one go this year, the state set a new record in the country.

With the addition of eight new colleges, total number of medical colleges in the country rose to 42 while the number of MBBS seats increased to 6,690, providing more opportunities to students.

Under B Category, 85 per cent reservation is being provided to locals. The reservation for Scheduled Tribes has increased to 10 per cent from earlier 6 per cent. The number of seas for STs increased from 223 in 2021-22 to 429 in 2022-23.

Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K. Kavitha tweeted that the youngest state of India, despite being neglected by the Union government for the last eight years, continues to create history and benchmarks for the country.

“The determination of KCR Garu to provide the best for every individual in the state, surpassing practically no support from the Union Govt at almost every step is notable. The State Govt set up medical colleges, increased seats to ensure equality of opportunity,” wrote Kavitha, daughter of CM KCR.