Patna: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss raised a ray of hope for Bihar's ailing health sector by announcing that new medical colleges and hospitals in the state were under consideration of the government.

The announcement here on Friday came at a time when Medical Council of India (MCI) had refused to increase the annual intake of students in Patna Medical College and Shri Krishna Medical College in Muzaffarpur, from 100 to 150 and 50 to 100 respectively.

Ramadoss, who was here to attend a function to observe July 11 as the World Population Day, said health care facilities in Bihar and other neighbouring states, including Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, were "abysmal".

"Keeping this factor in view, efforts were on by the health ministry with concerned state governments to improve overall health facilities (in the states)," he said.

"We are hopeful of setting up new (medical) colleges (in Bihar) as soon as possible."

He said the delay in the project was because a central government team, which recently visited the proposed sites, had objected to the plan because of non-availability of basic infrastructure.

There are only six government and one private medical college and hospitals in the whole of Bihar serving a population of 83 million.