Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday, 26 May chaired a comprehensive review of the state's health and medical education departments in Lucknow, directing officials to fast-track service delivery and integrate modern technology across the healthcare network. The review underscored the government's push to make quality healthcare accessible to the state's vast population.

Key Directives from the Chief Minister

Adityanath called for strengthening medical colleges, nursing institutions, and super-speciality services through modern technology, improved human resources, and effective management. 'The objective of medical education is not merely to increase the number of institutions, but to provide the state with trained doctors, specialists, and quality healthcare workers. Modern equipment, expert faculty, and research activities should be promoted in medical institutions,' he told officials.

He also directed that work on under-construction medical colleges and health facilities be expedited, stating that 'all projects should be completed within the stipulated timeframe so that the public can soon benefit from better healthcare facilities.'

Scale of UP's Health Infrastructure

Officials informed the meeting that the state currently operates 108 district hospitals, 106 specialised hospitals, 976 Community Health Centres, 3,757 Primary Health Centres, and 27,668 health sub-centres. In 2025-26, government hospitals delivered 26.41 crore OPD services and 1.23 crore IPD services, while conducting 24.33 crore pathology tests.

On the medical education front, postgraduate seats have grown from 1,344 to 5,067 over the last 10 years, while MBBS seats rose from 5,390 to 12,800. Super-speciality seats recorded a near 165 percent increase in the same period.

Ayushman Bharat and Free Treatment

The Chief Minister highlighted that the Ayushman Bharat scheme is emerging as the most significant financial safety net for poor and vulnerable families in the state. As of the review, 6,480 hospitals are enrolled under the scheme in Uttar Pradesh, and more than 96.75 lakh free treatments have been provided so far. Adityanath stressed the importance of timely payments to empanelled hospitals to sustain service quality.

Medicine Quality, TB Eradication, and Contractual Doctors

On medicine quality, the Chief Minister issued strict instructions that medicines with less than 3 months' expiry must not be stocked in hospitals and should be replaced with fresh supply immediately. He also directed that payments to ambulance operators be cleared on time.

Adityanath called for converting the TB eradication campaign into a mass movement, directing that schools, colleges, and voluntary organisations be actively involved. Notably, he also instructed officials to raise the honorarium of contractual MBBS doctors to attract better talent into government health services — a move that addresses a longstanding retention challenge in rural and semi-urban facilities.

What Comes Next

The directives signal a shift from infrastructure expansion alone toward accountability in delivery and outcomes. With Uttar Pradesh operating one of India's largest public health networks, the emphasis on technology integration, research linkages, and timely financial settlements points to a governance recalibration ahead of the state's next health policy cycle.