Anand Mahindra responds to PM Modi's call, may set up medical college

Mahindra suggested that state governments frame good policies for land allotment so that India could produce a large number of doctors and paramedics.

Mahindra group will look at setting up a medical college on its university campus in Hyderabad.

In a tweet on Thursday group, Chairman Anand Mah­indra said he had no idea of the shortfall of medical colleges in India. Tagging his colleague and Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani, he asked if the group can explore establishing a medical institution on the campus of Mahindra University.

Mahindra tweeted the idea in reaction to a media report stating that institutes in Azer­baijan and Zagreb (Croatia) were attracting medical students from India with low fees.

Twitter users enthusiastically responded to Mahindra’s idea and some suggested that their institution should not charge fees “in crores like other colleges”. Mahindra acknowledged the suggestion.

Mahindra University has a campus in Hyderabad and offers undergraduate and post-graduate courses in engineering, law and management, media and liberal arts.

Incidentally, Mahindra is the first industrialist to publicly respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the private sector for expansion of medical education in the country. 

The Prime Minister made the remarks last week in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has led to mass evacuation of Indian students from the country.

 He also suggested that state governments frame good policies for land allotment so that India could produce a large number of doctors and paramedics.

Aspiring doctors in the country face twin challenges of shortage of seats and high fees. While there are about 90,000 seats in government and private medical colleges, 1.6 million candidates applied for ent­rance test for undergraduate courses in 2021. 

Similarly, the gap in fees in private and government colleges is glaring. While fees in government colleges can range between Rs 67,000 and Rs 300,000, private institutes fees can go upto Rs 1 crore.