The National Medical Commission (NMC) has suspended its decision to limit the number of MBBS seats to 100 per 10 lakh population in every state following opposition from southern states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Puducherry. The regulation barred the medical colleges from increasing their seat capacity from the next academic session 2024-25. The regulation will now be implemented from academic year 2025-26 following consultation and meeting with stakeholders and states.
The regulation, released on August 16 was titled “Guidelines for undergraduate courses under the establishment of new medical institutions, starting new medical courses, an increase of seats for existing courses, and assessment and rating Regulation 2023.” It stated that a letter of permission would be required for starting new medical colleges with an annual intake capacity of 50/100/150. The colleges would only have 50-150 seats provided they follow the ratio of 100 seats per 10 lakh population in the state or UT.
The NMC has now notified that following the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare letter dated November 1, the provisions of the ratio of 100 MBBS Seats for 10 lakh population in the states have been re-examined by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB). The NMC has now said “that a decision has been taken by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board, National Medical Commission that the “OBJECTIVE” clause under Chapter-1 of “Guidelines for Under Graduate Courses under Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses & Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023″ (notified by UGMEB on 16th August, 2023) shall be implemented from academic year 2025-26.”
The decision to limit the total seats to 100 per 10 lakh population in each state was taken to achieve a fair distribution of resources and faculty members, reported Indian Express. The regulation would have added approximately 40,000 MBBS seats, but only in states like Bihar and Jharkhand, which face a high deficiency in terms of new seats-to-population ratio. The decision, however, found opposition from several states that have already reached this ratio, as they would have been considered ineligible to add more MBBS seats in medical colleges of the states.
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