Gorakhpur, September 16, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday accused the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government of demanding bribes for issuing medical licences in the state, while highlighting the expansion of healthcare infrastructure under his government.
Adityanath made the remarks while inaugurating the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Charitable Blood Centre in Gorakhpur. He also urged people to donate blood, saying that while medical facilities, equipment and medicines could be upgraded, blood could not be manufactured.
“Medical facilities, equipment and medicines can be made to suit modern standards but blood cannot be made. It is a symbol of compassion where a donor saves a life of a recipient,” he said.
The Chief Minister said Gorakhpur and Uttar Pradesh had witnessed significant changes in healthcare infrastructure. He recalled a time when there was only one major hospital serving eastern Uttar Pradesh and patients had to share beds.
“Today, the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur is a super speciality hospital which has emerged as the centre of treatment for various diseases, including Encephalitis. Today there is an AIIMS in Gorakhpur. Two medical colleges and four universities are also functional in the district today,” he said.
Taking a swipe at the previous governments, Adityanath alleged that the then SP government demanded money for every medical licence.
“The government (Samajwadi Party) at that time used to demand money for every license. I used to tell them that we would provide all the facilities required, but we would not pay a single rupee as a bribe… When you work hard, God also supports you,” he said.
He also highlighted the expansion of critical healthcare services in Gorakhpur, saying that Guru Shri Gorakshnath Chikitsalaya had started the functioning of the first ICU in eastern Uttar Pradesh along with its blood bank.
Adityanath said patients who previously had to travel to Lucknow for treatments such as dialysis could now access the service in Gorakhpur. He added that several hospitals in the city were providing dialysis facilities and that under a government scheme, 10 beds in each district hospital could provide dialysis free of cost.
The Chief Minister also pointed to the expansion of medical education in the state. He said MBBS seats had increased from around 4,600 to more than 13,500, while postgraduate seats had doubled.
Recent state medical education figures put the current number of MBBS seats in Uttar Pradesh at 14,400 for the 2026-27 academic year, according to the National Medical Commission’s seat matrix.
Adityanath said the number of nursing colleges had also increased and that new paramedical courses and institutes were being established to strengthen the healthcare system.
“Work has now begun to take this further by developing centres of excellence. We are setting up a Centre of Excellence for MedTech at IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the institute, with support from the state government. We are also developing a Centre of Excellence at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow,” he said.
The Chief Minister’s remarks came amid the inauguration of the new IMA charitable blood centre in Gorakhpur, which has a reported storage capacity of 400 units of blood.
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