NMC New Guidelines -100 MBBS seats per million population
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has limited the number of UG Medical (MBBS) seats in each state to 100 per million population. As per the official notice, the decision to limit the number of seats to 100 per 10 lakh population seeks to reduce the regional disparities in availability of healthcare professionals.
The official notice reads, “With an objective of providing the right teaching environment to the medical student and improving the overall quality of education, the provision of limiting UG seats in each state to 100 per million population has been included in the recently notified MSR guidelines 2023,”
NMC also added that it will go a long way in ensuring effective quality of education.
The commission has pointed out how various courts had made observations on medical college overcrowding, citing as an example the recent W.P. No. 17263 of 2020 case of K.R. Vasudeva vs. State of T.N. and others, dtd 30.07.2021, Madurai bench of Madras High court had previously cautioned the NMC against overcrowding in medical colleges.
According to NMC, the country might gain an additional 40,000 MBBS seats if the medical colleges are distributed fairly. Various state IMA branches, student organizations, and the medical fraternity at large applauded NMC for this move.
NMC’s new guideline restricts nine States & four UTs from increasing medical seats, as they already have more than 100 seats per 10 lakh population. The list includes Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. On the other side states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the ratio is way low, making it possible to add more medical seats.
The NMC has also asked all medical colleges to send relevant details of all students admitted in first year MBBS course for the academic year 2023-24 by October 20. NMC also reaffirmed that Medical Colleges should make sure that all admission in courses of medicine falling under the purview of the NMC Act, 2019 is strictly in accordance with merit and is made in a transparent and fair manner as envisaged in the Regulations