The Centre is planning to set up 60 medical colleges in 11 States during the XIth Five Year Plan to rectify the regional imbalance in the tertiary healthcare sector and has advised the States to look for public-private partnership models to make it possible.

This was disclosed by Union health minister Ambumani Ramadoss, at the 9th Conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare here on Tuesday. Apart from the Chief Ministers from some States, the conference is attended by the State Health Ministers and senior officials to review the programmes in the healthcare sector.

The minister said there was a regional imbalance in the growth of medical colleges in the country. About 51 per cent of the medical colleges were concentrated in four States namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. He said there was an urgent need to build medical colleges in badly affected States like Bihar, UP, MP, and in North-eastern states, to overcome the regional imbalance.

Apart from the recommendation by the Planning Commission, the task force on medical education (NRHM) constituted by the ministry has also indicated in its report that the state government can enter into the joint- venture with private promoters to build medical colleges.

The tentative assessment of number of medical colleges required in certain deficient states are - Assam-3, Bihar-10, Chatisghar-2, Haryana-2.Jharkhand-3 , MP-5Meghalaya-1, Orisa-4, Rajasthan -4, UP-21, NE States -5.

Quoting the Medical Council of India inspection report on medical colleges, the minister said there was an acute shortage of medical teachers particularly in pre and para-clinical specialties such as anatomy, pharmacology, and forensic medicine in some of the States.

He said that during the 11th plan, the ministry was proposing to start a new scheme to provide central grants to 150 State Government medical/dental colleges Rs 10 crore each to upgrade their infrastructure and equipment for the purpose of increasing the admission capacity in under- graduate as well as post graduate courses.

Pointing out that there was also shortage of nursing staff in many States, he said the Centre would help set up 230 nursing schools in the badly-affected States like UP, Bihar and MP. Besides, the Government would also set up 35 nursing cells in these states to support the staff.

Earlier, inaugurating the conference, he said far-reaching changes had taken place in Health sector during the past four years. The National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) has accorded high priority to the health care of the poor and it has committed to public expenditure on health to at least 2-3 per cent of the GDP, a target to be reached by 2010, compared to an expenditure of about 0.9 per cent to 1 per cent of GDP currently. Health, like most social sectors is essentially a State subject and contributions of the States to health spending is in the range of 70-80 per cent of the total public expenditure on health, he added.