New Delhi, Feb 01, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced 10,000 additional seats in medical colleges as well as daycare cancer centres in all district hospitals. Presenting her eighth consecutive budget and the NDA government's second full Union Budget of its third term, the Finance Minister said that India has seen remarkable growth in medical education in the last 10 years. "10,000 additional seats to be added in medical colleges next year and 75,000 seats to be added in next five years," she said. “All district hospitals to have daycare cancer centres. About 200 daycare cancer centres will be established in 2025-26," the FM said. Further, "broadband connectivity to primary health centres will help in expanding telemedicine consultation for rural patients at village level", she added. In the last 10 years, medical colleges in the country have doubled to 780 in 2024-25 from just 387 in 2013-14 -- a 102 per cent growth. During the same period, the seats for MBBS also rose from 51,348 to 1,18,137 -- a 130 per cent surge. In the last budget, the government made custom duty exemptions and a reduction in GST rates on three anti-cancer medications. The three anti-cancer drugs were Trastuzumab, Osimertinib and Durvalumab. The government also slashed the GST rate from 12 per cent to 5 per cent on these three cancer medicines. Cancer cases are rising significantly in India. According to a Lancet study, India registered about 12 lakh new cancer cases and 9.3 lakh deaths in 2019 -- the second-highest contributor to the disease burden in Asia. The number climbed to 13.9 lakh in 2020, which further soared to 14.2 lakh and 14.6 lakh in the years 2021 and 2022, respectively, the study showed.