Union health minister JP Nadda lays foundation stone of medical college in Firozabad

FIROZABAD: Union health minister JP Nadda on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of a medical college at a function here. The college will be built at a cost of Rs 180 crore over 20 acre of land.
Speaking at the gathering at Jalesar road here, Nadda said the centre was soon going to launch a health insurance scheme for common people, besides providing free treatment to the poor suffering from serious illness related to kidney and cancer.
"The health insurance scheme for the poor would be implemented from April 1, 2017. Under the scheme, every BPL family avail medical service of Rs one lakh, besides there would be free-dialysis facility for them," he added.
Stating that the government is quite serious about the public health, Nadda assured that his ministry would constitute a team of doctors to conduct a survey of common illness arising out of the labour intensive glass industry of Firozabad and provide suitable remedies.
"We are trying our best to upgrade medical facilities in the country with a special focus on Uttar Pradesh where the services are not in tandem with the burgeoning population. Keeping this in mind, the government plans to open five new medical colleges in UP at Firozabad, Shahjahanpur, Basti and Bahraich," the minister added.
In fact, before coming to Firozabad, Nadda visited Bahraich earlier in the day and the laid the foundation stone of the medical college there also.
Out of Rs 180 crore to be spent on the Firozabad medical college, Rs 60 crore will be spent on construction of the hospital building, Rs 40 crore on student's hostels, Rs 50 crore on buying state of the art medical equipment and Rs 30 crore on upgradation of the District Hospital.
"We hope that the new medical facility will benefit both the youth as well as patients of the area. The young generation will get new avenues of employment in their area. The government is fully committed to building these medical colleges and would provide more budget if the need arises," he said.
There are 472 medical colleges in the country in which 65,000 students are studying. However, this number is not sufficient for this huge country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his approval to open 58 new medical colleges in the country, Nadda added.
Expelled Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav and his son Akshay Yadav, who is also MP from Firozabad, shared the dais with the health minister.
Ramgopal Yadav appreciated the Centre's effort in improving health facilities in the state.