Maharashtra Faces Major Setback: NMC Halts Admissions at 30 Medical Colleges

Nagpur: In a major setback to Maharashtra, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has halted admissions to 30 medical colleges in the state for failing to meet the NMC norms.

The list of medical colleges includes five newly established medical colleges in Vidarbha and five older medical colleges that could not fulfill the norms set by the Apex Medical Education regulatory body

These five newly recognised colleges in Vidarbha include the medical colleges located in Buldhana, Amravati, Washim, Gadchiroli, and Bhandara. Apart from these, admissions to older institutions in Akola, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Gondia, and Nagpur have also been halted.

Due to this move, medical aspirants and parents are worried over a possible reduction of over intake capacity for medical education in Maharashtra. The delay in getting NMC permission could affect the admission of around 3,000 medical aspirants.

Also Read: Is Pune's Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College at Risk of Losing NMC Recognition?

To ensure that the medical colleges are complying with the prescribed standards, NMC carries out annual inspections of medical colleges. During its inspection this year, the Commission found that 30 medical colleges across the State of Maharashtra failed to meet the required criteria.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that earlier this year, the National Medical Commission (NMC) had issued show-cause notices to almost all government medical colleges in Pune over vacancies of professors, staff, and insufficient infrastructure. The Commission had issued the show cause after finding out that the GMCs in Pune did not have enough staff/faculty, and facilities.

The Government Medical College in Amaravati had also received a show-cause notice from NMC over inadequate infrastructural facilities and faculty shortage.

Now, NMC has halted medical admissions to 30 medical colleges in Maharashtra. As per the latest media report by Live Nagpur, after finding the responses to earlier notices sent to these colleges unsatisfactory, the Commission has now directed the Principal Secretary of the Medical Education Department and the Director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) to appear in person regarding the matter.

During its annual renewal process for medical seats for 2025-2026 academic year, NMC assessed several key factors including the self-declarations submitted by the colleges, faculty attendance data from the Aadhaar-enabled biometric system, number of surgeries conducted, availability of cadavers for training, medical parameters, and overall infrastructure.

The Commission found that there was a lack of adequate faculty, medical facilities, and infrastructure in these 30 medical colleges. However, when show-cause notices were issued to these medical colleges, NMC found the replies unsatisfactory, It noted that the same shortcomings had been repeatedly highlighted over time, with little to no corrective action taken by the institutes. Therefore, NMC has now asked the DMER to appear in person.

Commenting on the matter, Dr. Kailash Jhiney, the Dean of Government Medical College, Buldhana, confirmed receiving a NMC notice citing non-compliance with set standards. He informed that the college was working to rectify the highlighted issues. However, he also pointed out that certain technical challenges were causing the delays. Dr. Jhiney also acknowledged the shortcomings in faculty strength, availability of cadavers for student training, and the number of monthly surgeries adding that all these factors are under active review at the government level.

He further added that currently, 32 faculty members are serving as Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors, against an approved strength of 85 posts. The recruitment process to fill up the remaining positions is underway.

Also Read: GMC Amravati Gets NMC Show-cause notice over deficiencies