New Delhi, Sept. 25 -- The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs.15,034.50-crore plan to create 10,023 additional medical seats across government institutions by 2028-29, an attempt to address the acute shortage of doctors in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet cleared two key initiatives: the Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for strengthening and upgrading of existing state and central government medical colleges, standalone postgraduate institutes, and government hospitals to add 5,000 post-graduate seats; and the extension of the CSS for upgrading existing government medical colleges to increase 5,023 MBBS (undergraduate) seats. Both schemes carry an enhanced cost ceiling of Rs.1.50 crore per seat. The four-year programme, spanning 2025-26 to 2028-29, will see the Centre contribute Rs.10,303.20 crore while states will provide Rs.4,731.30 crore. Beyond increasing seat capacity, the initiative seeks to enable the introduction of new specialities across government medical institutions and enhance the quality of medical education and training to meet global standards. "These schemes aim to promote balanced regional distribution of healthcare resources whilst being cost-effective by leveraging existing infrastructure," the Centre said in a statement. The move comes against the backdrop of a significant demand-supply gap in medical education. According to the parliamentary standing committee report on health released in 2024, a little over a 100,000 MBBS seats were available for over 1.1 million students who cleared the NEET in 2023-24 - creating a 10:1 demand-supply ratio. At the postgraduate level, around 68,000 seats were available for over 200,000 aspirants....