New Delhi | In the next five years, 75,000 more medical seats will be created in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 78th Independence Day, Modi said medical seats have been increased to nearly one lakh in the past decade but many from the middle class still go to other countries for medical education and spend "lakhs and crores" on medical education abroad.

"Around 25,000 youths every year go abroad for medical education and they go to such countries, I get surprised when I hear about them. So we have decided, 75,000 new seats will be created in the medical line in the next five years," the prime minister said.

The Union Health Ministry recently told the Rajya Sabha that there has been an increase of 88 per cent in medical colleges in the country, from 387 in 2014 to 731 in 2024.

MBBS seats went up by 118 per cent from 51,348 in 2014 to 1,12,112 now. There is also an increase of 133 per cent in PG seats from 31,185 in 2014 to 72,627 now, it stated.