Minister for Fiance and Health T. Harish Rao said that the BRS Government had brought a ‘White coat revolution’ in the State and there was no need for merit students to go out for studying doctor course.
“During the last eight years, the government has sanctioned 29 medical colleges out of which 21 are functional and eight are in the process of being established. There are 8,515 MBBS seats and 2,890 PG seats available in the State,” said Mr. Harish Rao replying to a question by MLA Gadari Kishore Kumar, M. Sanjay, Dr. M. Anand and M. Yadagiri Reddy during Question Hour in the Assembly on Saturday. He said that in addition, there were 28 medical colleges in private, and one medical college each under ESI and AIIMS.
Mr. Harish Rao said that out of the total 1,300 medical seats available in the country in the present academic year 900 were from Telangana.
Answering a question by MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Minister said that the government had been spending ₹30 lakh on each MBBS student followed by ₹45 lakh on a PG student and ₹75 lakh on super speciality doctor.
‘Forest cover increased’
Minister for Forest and Environment, Science and Technology A. Indrakara Reddy, replying to a question by Guvvala Balaraj and others, said that the forest cover in the State had increased by 7.7% translating into 4,25,259 acres from 2015. He said that as of August 3, as many as 284 crore seedlings were planted or rejuvenated in the State, 13.44 lakh acres of degraded forest area was rejuvenated and 14,864 nurseries were established across the State to support the programme.
Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy said that 1.54 lakh acres of oil palm cultivation was taking place in Telangana out of which 1.18 lakh acres was brought under cultivation only after formation of separate state.
Answering a question by S. Veeraiah and others, the Minister said two oil mills were being operated by TS Oilfed with a total capacity of 90 tonnes per hour (TPH) at Ashwaraopet and Apparaopet and that the process of establishing oils mills by other companies was under process.
