New Delhi, February 24: Raising the aspirations of common people and in a bid to amp up the medical infrastructure in the country, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the setting up of 157 new nursing colleges across the country in his budget speech for year 2023-24.

“157 new nursing colleges will be established in co-locations with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014,” added Sitharaman.

The Union Minister also said, "Facilities in select Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) labs will be made available for research by public and private medical colleges." She also made the announcement of a new research scheme for research in the Pharma sector.

Earlier, speaking to reporters outside Parliament before the start of the budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, "Our Finance Minister will present one more Budget before the country tomorrow. In today's global circumstances, not only India but the entire world is looking at India's budget. Amid the unstable global economic situation, India's Budget will attempt to meet the hopes and aspirations of the common citizens. I firmly believe that Nirmala Sitharaman will make all efforts to meet those aspirations."

Previously, the Union Budget 2022-23 had allocated INR 86,200 crore to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, nearly 16.5 per cent increase in comparison to INR 73,932 crore in FY 2020-21 driven by increased allocation to centrally-sponsored public health schemes to continue building sustainable healthcare infrastructure and ensure system preparedness to tackle increasing healthcare needs of the country. In the line with the government’s continuous efforts for the overall health system strengthening.