4500 additional MBBS seats this year: MCI to Union Health Ministry

New Delhi:  For the first time in the country, the medical education sector has amplified by 4500 MBBS seats in just one year, shows the data issued by the apex Medical Council of India (MCI).

In an official communiqué to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Board of Governors in supersession of MCI (MCI BoG) has submitted the data entailing the number of approvals given this year to medical colleges along with the consents to increase MBBS seats corresponding to the implementation of EWS quota.

Medical Dialogues has been extensively reporting about the rise in medical seats this year as well as the implementation of EWS quota.

Earlier this year, on January 9, the Parliament had passed the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill 2019 to help the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of Indian society.  Considering the bill, it was decided that all educational institutions including ones in the medical field, will offer the EWS quota in the General Category.

To put 10 per cent of the newly introduced quota into action, the Medical institutions had been directed to increase MBBS seats at their institutes so the other categories won't get affected.

Read Also: MCI moves to implement 10 per cent EWS quota in medical colleges, Asks States to submit Seat Matrix

Read Also: NEET 2019 Breaking News: EWS Quota Implemented; 10 per cent more MBBS seats at Medical Colleges

Now providing information about all the steps that it had taken to produce more doctors in the country, the MCI submitted its overall data to the Union Health Ministry. Now, the policy move is going to lead to an addition of 4500 MBBS seats reports the New Indian Express

The apex medical council apprised the Ministry that it had approved 37 new medical colleges and has increased MBBS seats at many of the existing medical colleges along with other medical colleges which will receive the boost in MBBS pool; making the total of additional seats for this year to 4500.

"The significant rise in the number of MBBS seats is also due to many medical colleges offering more seats under the new Economically Weaker Section quota and the relaxed rules that allow colleges to increase their student uptake," a ministry official informed TNIE.

With the new medical colleges added from this academic session, the number of medical colleges in the country has gone up to 529. As against 69,712 seats available for MBBS in the previous session, those qualifying in the NEET this year have better prospects of admissions that have gone up to 74,215, as per the report by The Free Press Journal

Accordingly, Uttar Pradesh will be the biggest beneficiary as 7,102 students will get into MBBS this year in the state as against 6,499 last year, an increase of 603 seats. The number of medical colleges has increased from 48 to 55. This will be followed by Gujarat, where there is an increase of 600 MBBS seats.

In Bihar, there will be an increase of 150 MBBS seats each. Delhi has 1,100 MBBS seats, but there will be no increase. Similarly, there has been no increase in Jharkhand, where there are 350 seats. Uttarakhand, on the other hand, will lose 150 MBBS seats as MCI approval was withdrawn in one medical college there, reports Sunday Guardian live.

Besides, the Health Ministry has also proposed to convert 75 district hospitals into medical colleges in the third phase of a scheme which aims at boosting the availability of the human resource for the health sector in the coming times.

Read Also: Health Ministry to convert 75 district hospitals into medical colleges, add 10000 MBBS;8000 PG Medical seats