Chennai, March 1 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Sunday said that the state will admit 1,650 more students to its medical colleges from academic year 2021-22 in addition to 3,250 seats filled at present.

He said Rs 1,200 crore has been allocated in the 2020-21 budget in this regard.

He said that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government will protect the minorities and urged them not to believe rumours spread for political purposes.

Laying the foundation stone of a proposed government medical college in Ramanathapuram, Palaniswami said the state government had secured permission to build 11 more medical colleges with an outlay of Rs 4,500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.

Palaniswami thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning 11 new medical colleges.

Speaking at the function, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that Rs 23 crore has already been released for building the Ramanathapuram Government Medical College as the first installment of the central government's share.

He said the Centre has decided to revise the teacher-student ratio and increase postgraduate seats in medical education in the country. During the last five years, more than 14,500 postgraduate seats have been created.

According to him, the medical education is moving towards competence-based learning and there should be sharing of the best practices between various medical colleges and states for overall improvement in the area.