Over 2,000 medical students benefit from Bengaluru-based private hospital’s ‘Udaan’ initiative

A long-running education support programme aimed at strengthening the healthcare workforce in the country has enabled more than 2,000 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers in medicine and nursing over the past 12 years.

The CSR initiative – Udaan – run by Narayana Health, provides structured academic guidance and financial assistance to meritorious students seeking admission to government medical, nursing, and paramedical institutions. According to the organisation, over 1,200 MBBS students and more than 800 nursing students have benefited from the programme to date.

Devi Shetty, founder and chairman of Narayana Health, on Saturday felicitated students supported by Udaan, many of them first-generation entrants into the healthcare profession.

Dr. Shetty told The Hindu that while the national doctor-to-population ratio is officially estimated at around 1:811, it drops sharply in several rural and underserved regions, reaching nearly 1:2,700 in some States. The Udaan initiative seeks to address this imbalance, he said. He added that many graduates of the programme go on to serve in areas where access to healthcare services remains limited.

In eight States

Launched in 2014 in Karnataka, Udaan has expanded into a multi-State initiative spanning eight States. The programme has its origins in West Bengal, where it began in 2008 under the name Udayer Pathey, before being consolidated under the common name Udaan as it expanded nationally.

During the 2024–25 academic year, the programme supported over 800 MBBS students across 15 government medical colleges and more than 800 nursing students in 13 nursing colleges. Women accounted for 53% of the NEET aspirants supported during the year.

205 admissions this year

Programme outcomes for 2024-25 included 36 students securing admission to various All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and four to Lady Hardinge Medical College. Of the 475 students supported during the year, 205 gained admission to government medical colleges across more than 30 institutions nationwide. Over the past three years, more than 360 Udaan scholars have joined government medical colleges.

“The average cost of training one doctor under the programme during 2024–25 stood at ₹50,400,” Dr. Shetty added.