Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University here.
The university, as per reports, will grant affiliation to 13 state medical colleges, 22 private universities, two autonomous institutions and 17 private dental colleges in Uttar Pradesh.
The UP government has allocated 50 acres of land in Lucknow to the university. Lucknow was the parliamentary constituency of the late leader who breathed his last in August last year.
The university is expected to give a boost to the healthcare sector in the country’s largest state and increase the strength of medical students from 2200 to 4500, media reports said.
Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony, the PM said the construction of more than 1.25 lakh wellness centres in rural areas of the country under the Ayushmaan Bharat mission of the country will be key to preventive health care.
“These centres, by catching the early symptoms of the disease, will prove to be helpful in their treatment in the beginning. Due to Ayushman Bharat, about 70 lakh poor patients of the country have been given free treatment, of which about 11 lakh are here only in UP”, he added.