New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate 11 New Government Medical Colleges across Tamil Nadu and the new campus of Central Institute of Classical Tamil in Chennai, on 12th January, Wednesday via video conferencing.

The new medical colleges are being established at an estimated cost of about Rs 4000 crore, out of which around Rs 2145 crore has been provided by the Union government and the rest by the Tamil Nadu government.

According to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the establishment of these medical colleges is in line with the Prime Minister's constant endeavour to promote affordable medical education and improve health infrastructure in all parts of the country. 

The new medical colleges, with cumulative capacity of 1450 seats, are being established under the Centrally Sponsored scheme of ’Establishing of New Medical Colleges attached with existing district/referral hospital’. Under the scheme, medical colleges are established in districts, which do not have either a government or private medical college.

The establishment of a new campus of Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) in Chennai is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision to protect and preserve Indian heritage and promote classical languages. The new campus is fully funded by the Union Government and is built at a cost of Rs 24 Crore. CICT, which was operating from a rented building so far, will now operate from a new 3 storey campus. The new campus is equipped with a spacious library, an e-library, seminar halls and a multimedia hall.