NMC amends Minimum Standard Requirements for running PG medical courses, here are key takeaways

New Delhi: The Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued amendment to the Minimum Standards of Requirements for Post-Graduate Courses 2023 (PG MSR 2023) and asked all medical colleges and institutions across the country to comply with the updated rules with immediate effect.

Issuing a public notice on 11.03.2026, the PGMEB informed that the standards for running postgraduate medical courses have now been amended as of February 20, 2026. These norms define the minimum requirements that institutions must meet to start and run PG medical programmes in the country. 

The notice mentioned, "The Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC), deriving its authority from Section 25(1)(a), (c), (d), and (e) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019; Regulation 10 of the “Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses and Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023” and Regulation 3.4 of the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, is responsible for setting the Minimum Standards of Requirements (MSR) for starting and running Post-Graduate (PG) medical courses in India. These standards specify the basic requirements that medical colleges must meet, such as infrastructure, faculty, equipment, and clinical facilities."

As per Regulation 3.4 of the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, the criteria for running Post-Graduate courses are called Post-Graduate Minimum Standards of Requirements, 2023 (PGMSR-2023).

The first version of PGMSR-2023 was issued by the National Medical Commission on 16 January, 2024 through a Public Notice. Subsequently, the standards were revised and updated through amendments issued on 23 August, 2024 and 14 January, 2025. These amendments were carried out to update or clarify certain requirements related to postgraduate medical education.

Now, based on the need for further updates, the PGMEB has issued another amendment to PGMSR-2023. "These latest amendments will come into force immediately, and all concerned institutions are required to follow the updated requirements from that date onwards," mentioned the notice. 

Referring to this notice, the National Medical Commission addressing the Director/Principal/Dean of all the Medical Colleges/Medical Institutions of India stated, "Reference is invited to Public Notice No.N-P016(11)/1/2023-PGMEB-NMC (e8383995) dated 11-03-2026 issued by the Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) on the above subject matter being self explanatory interalia issuing another amendment to the Post-Graduate Minimum Standards of Requirements, 2023 (PGMSR-2023) which shall come into force immediately, and all concerned institutions are required to follow the updated requirements from that date onwards. All institutions/stake holders are requested to take note of these amendments for compliance."

The key takeaways from the recently amended PGMSR 2023 are as follows: 

The document mentioned that an institution conducting both undergraduate and post-graduate teaching shall satisfy the minimum requirement for undergraduate training as prescribed by UGMEB in the UG-MSR document and shall also fulfil additional requirements for post-graduate training. 

It mentioned that the following requirements will be fulfilled by all post- graduate medical institutes, including standalone institutes:

(i) The hospital building shall conform to the existing national building norms and various local statutory regulations for hospitals taking into consideration the requirements of the hospital as a service provider including administration, registration, records storage, out-patient and inpatient areas, operating theaters, Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Radiology and laboratory services, emergency areas, etc. Mandatory regulatory/licensing approvals and all statutory requirement/clearances should have been obtained from the appropriate administrative authorities/State Government/Central Government/Pollution Control Board/Municipal Corporations/Councils etc.

(i) All the departments shall have an adequate number of the latest in-house equipment and training facilities. The departments shall have digital library and a seminar hall with high-speed internet/Wi-Fi connection to have direct relay from the operation theatre and also to conduct/relay global scientific live programs. In department of Radio-diagnosis, Anaesthesiology, Pathology, Microbiology, and Biochemistry, there shall be increase in the faculty, infrastructure, and other staff with the increase in the number of beds/ workloads in the hospital.

(iii) At least 80 per cent of the hospital beds should be occupied throughout the year by patients requiring inpatient care.

(iv) Minimum 15 per cent of the total beds in the Department imparting postgraduate training should be Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds / High Dependency Unit (HDU)beds, exclusively of that Department. Two third of these beds will be ICU beds.

(v) There shall be adequate space and sufficient number of examination cubicles available in the Out-Patient Department.

(vi) There shall be one teaching room for each teaching department with a capacity to accommodate adequate number of students for clinical case discussions/demonstrations. Each such room shall have audio-visual facilities.

(vii) The institution shall have adequate in-house laboratory and imaging facilities for the training of post-graduate students, which should be fully run by the respective department. Laboratories shall provide all the investigative facilities required and shall be regularly updated keeping in view the advancement of knowledge, science and technology and for research requirements.

(viii) Imaging facilities shall be contemporary and in keeping with the latest technology available for diagnosis and interventions. These facilities shall be run by the Radio-diagnosis department.

(ix) There shall be digital data of records of patients with address for all admission, discharge, Deliveries, surgeries, procedures, birth, death, investigation done in various Departments/Laboratories etc. MRD records shall be digital with ICD classification.

(x) There shall be a Departmental Library with essential books and journals as per curriculum requirements.

(xi) There shall be a well-equipped air-conditioned Blood Bank capable of providing component therapy. The Blood Bank and Blood transfusion services should conform to the guidelines of the National AIDS Control Organization and as prescribed in Schedule-F Part XII-B to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 amended from time to time. The Blood Transfusion services should be under the administrative control of the Department of Pathology of the medical college when there is no separate Department of Immunohaematology and Blood Transfusion

(xii) Faculty shall be full-time and shall not engage in private practice during college working hours. It shall be mandatory to have at least 75 per cent attendance in a calendar year of the total working days. Total working days will be 300 for calculating 75 percent attendance. In case a faculty leaves midway, and a new appointment is made then a cumulative attendance of 75% shall be considered.

(xiii) Close Circuit Camera: Every medical college shall have prescribed number of cameras at the prescribed locations of cameras with Close Circuit Cameras, as prescribed by the National Medical Commission.

(xiv) College Website: Every college /institute shall have its own website, which shall display the information mentioned below. Each college will update the details of the information on the website during the first week of each month. Colleges shall provide additional information on their website if directed by the PGMEB of NMC. 

Information to be displayed on the website of the medical college:

1. List of Departments with available facilities.

2. List of PG courses along with number of seats permitted by NMC.

3. List of faculties of last three years mentioning current designation, date of joining, date of leaving etc. with their contact details.

4. List of details of the admitted students of last three years.

5. Average daily Out-Patients attendance of previous year.

6. Average daily bed occupancy of previous year.

7. Total major surgeries and minor surgeries performed during previous year in each surgical department.

Specific additional requirements for the standalone PG institutes:

Standalone postgraduate medical colleges or institutes established under Section 3.1(iii) of the PGMER-2023 must have a minimum of 220 beds and are required to maintain the following departments as fully functional:

a) Biochemistry 

b) Pathology 

c) Microbiology

d) Radio-Diagnosis

e) Anaesthesiology (When there is surgical specialty)

Such post-graduate medical college/institution shall have facilities for teaching the basic science subjects as per requirements.

Other requirements

• Every college/ institute shall mandatorily ensure integration with the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) framework and facilitate generation and linking of ABHA IDs for patients attending OPD and IPD services. ABHA ID coverage shall be progressively achieved in a graded and time-bound manner. 

The Commission shall periodically review compliance and issue directions from time to time.

• All the faculty, Senior Residents and Junior Residents shall mark their attendance on AEBAS as per the guidelines issued by National Medical Commission from time to time.
• While considering fresh cases for starting a new PG course and for increase of annual intake, maximum of four seats will be permitted in a non-government medical college/institution.
• Either one Post-Doctoral Certificate Course (PDCC) or one Post-Doctoral Fellowship (PDF) student can be admitted every year over and above the sanctioned/eligible seat in a Unit. In a department where a unit structure is not there, either One Post-Doctoral Certificate Course (PDCC) or one Post-Doctoral Fellowship (PDF) student can be admitted every year, up to every five sanctioned/eligible seats.
• All the Departments where in-patient beds are required, shall maintain master register of patients mentioning details of the patient including diagnosis, ABHA ID etc., every day at 10 AM and should be authenticated by a faculty.
• The faculty who has been counted for determining the number of seats for admission will not be counted in another Institute for that academic year if he leaves the Institute.
• Number of critically ill patients requiring invasive ventilator support in the hospital and department, total number of haemodialysis performed, total numbers of birth in the hospital, total number of death in hospital, total number of blood (including blood components) consumed in the hospital and department and total number of major surgeries done in hospital and department will be considered as corroborative information as and when required for judging clinical workload in the institute for training students.
• The maximum number of units to be capped at six in a department and maximum number of beds in a unit can be 40. Also, faculty requirements for number of undergraduate admissions shall be maintained as per UG Regulations/UGMSR.

Further, the PGMSR 2023 document also includes the clinical material/investigation workload required for post-graduate training, the ratio of eligible post-graduate faculty to the number of students, the number of minimum and maximum beds in a Unit, faculty and senior resident requirements for the number of post-graduate seats in different specialities.

Quantification of the Clinical Material/Investigation Workload Required for Post-Graduate Courses in Specialities:

Clinical material/ investigation workload required for post-graduate courses shall be as per curriculum requirement in curriculum documents of each speciality as notified by NMC time to time on website, etc. The following are additional general /specific guidelines.

Ratio of Recognized Post-Graduate Faculty to the Number of Students

(1) The ratio of recognized Post-graduate faculty to the number of students to be admitted for post-graduate broad speciality courses shall be as under:

*Assistant Professor - If an Assistant Professor fulfils all the requirements of post- graduate Guide as per section 16 of Medical Institutions( Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations-2025, he may be allotted 1(one) post-graduate student.

Counting of Beds:

ICU beds exclusively of the respective Department under its administrative control shall be included in bed strength of the Department

(2) The number of students to be admitted in case of post-graduate degree Super-Specialty courses:

*Assistant Professor - If an Assistant Professor fulfils all the requirements of post- graduate Guide as per section 17 of Medical Institutions( Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations-2025, he may be allotted 1(one) post-graduate student.

Counting of Beds:

ICU beds exclusively of the respective Department under its administrative control shall be included in bed strength of the Department

Tables showing beds and faculty recruitment for the number of postgraduate seats in different specialities

To view the NMC notice, click on the link below:

Also read- What are the Minimum Standard Requirements to start PG Medical Courses? Here are Key takeaways from final PGMSR 2023