The South East Asia Cultural Organisation (SEACO) has appealed to the authority concerned to increase the MBBS seats for Manipur from 100 to 150 seats concerning the lack of doctors in the state.

In a release, secretary general of SEACO, Konthoujam Ibochouba Kha-Nganba said that the development of the state depends on health index and thus having proper health care service is the utmost need. As the ratio between population and number of doctors serving in the state is highly disproportionate, the state government should translate the approval of the central government to increase the MBBS seat for state from 100 to 150 at the earliest, he added.

The inadequate number of doctors in the state has consequently brought hardship to the people during this pandemic and due to the limited number of health professionals, many patients were not satisfied even though they try to serve their best, said Ibochouba.

He further said that the central government has already approved to increase the MBBS seats however the state is not materialising it. Realising the recent impact of not having sufficient doctors, the state government should speed up the process of increasing the MBBS seats to 150 without fail, he added.