No new MBBS seats in southern medical colleges: NMC defers decision

New Delhi: Following protests by southern states, the National Medical Commission on Wednesday suspended its decision of capping the number of MBBS seats in a state, by a year effectively providing states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with an option to add more undergraduate medical seats in the next academic year.

In a new order, the NMC said that its past decision of considering 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population shall be implemented by 2025-26 academic year.

This means the previous NMC guideline in which the regulator said it would consider such a formula while permitting new medical colleges or increasing the seats in the existing ones will not come into effect next year.

The August 16 decision was re-examined after being requested by the Union government, which was petitioned by angry state governments arguing that such a step as proposed by the NMC would be an infringement on the states’ rights.

Going by the NMC formula, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with their 11,600 and 11,695 MBBS seats are way above the NMC capping of around 7,600 and 6,700 seats respectively.

Both have plans for more medical colleges as the governments in the two states intend to open at least one government medical college in each district.

Similarly the number of MBBS seats in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala was higher than the NMC limit.

NMC sources said a decision on the capping was taken because of the high concentration of medical colleges in a handful of states.

The new guideline, however, triggered a political row between southern states largely ruled by opposition parties and the Union government.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stain wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, requesting him to keep the notification in abeyance and start a consultative process for an even distribution of medical colleges among the states. The Union Health Ministry on Nov 1 asked the Commission to re-examine the issue.

“A decision has been taken by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board that the Objective clause in Chapter 1 of the guideline (mentions the 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population formula) shall be implemented from 2025-26,” the NMC said.

According to the regulator’s own assessment, there is scope for 40,000 more MBBS seats as per India’s current population. The aim is to distribute these seats more evenly to cater to the medical needs of each state.