The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved schemes worth Rs 14,930 crore to improve medical education and healthcare across the country, PTI reported.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved setting up 24 new medical colleges, increasing undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats by 18,058 and adding 248 nursing and midwifery schools.

The health ministry said the new medical colleges will be set up by upgrading existing district and referral hospitals. The project is the part a government programme to set up 58 medical colleges across the country.

All the new medical colleges have been proposed in hospitals that are in under-served areas, the ministry said.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda said on Twitter soon after the Cabinet approval that he was “heartily thankful” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the scheme will boost health and medical education in India, and called it a “visionary step towards Ayushman Bharat”.