In a bid to address the paucity of specialised doctors in the country, the number of postgraduate seats will be made equal to that of undergraduate seats, official sources said on Friday.

They said the government has set a target of three years to bridge the existing gap without any compromise on course quality.

This will be done by introducing Diplomate of National Board (DNB) courses in private and district hospitals, an official said. According to government data, the number of medical colleges has increased significantly since 2014.

There has been an increase of 69 per cent in medical colleges from 387 in 2014 to 654 now, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar had told the Rajya Sabha in February.

MBBS seats have seen a 94 per cent rise from 51,348 in 2014 to 99,763 now, and PG seats have increased by 107 per cent i.e. from 31,185 in 2014 to 64,559 now.

Pawar said the government has increased the number of medical colleges and added more MBBS seats to meet the demand for doctors in the country.

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