1,39,489 MBBS, 86,360 PG, 844 medical colleges in India: MoS Health

New Delhi: The number of medical colleges in India has increased from 387 in 2014 to 844 at present, while undergraduate (MBBS) seats have increased from 51,348 to 1,39,489 and postgraduate (PG) seats from 31,185 to 86,360, the Union Health Ministry informed Parliament.

Replying to a starred question in the Lok Sabha on July 24, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel said the opening up of new medical colleges in the remote and underserved areas of the country, coupled with an increase in MBBS seats, will enhance the availability of doctors and further improve healthcare delivery.

The information was shared in response to queries raised by a parliament member who sought to know any strategy framed to utilise the increased medical colleges and MBBS seats effectively across the country, the impact of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) on primary healthcare delivery in the country and steps taken by the Government to improve service delivery based on those assessments.

"The government has increased number of Medical Colleges, Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) seats. The number of Medical Colleges have increased from 387 to 844; UG seats from 51,348 to 1,39,489 and PG seats from 31,185 to 86,360 from 2014 to as on date. The opening up of new medical colleges in the remote and underserved areas of the country coupled with increase in MBBS seats will enhance the availability of doctors and further improve healthcare delivery," the Minister said. 

Patel also informed the parliament that the Family Adoption Programme (FAP) has been incorporated into the MBBS curriculum to provide equitable healthcare access to the rural population. FAP involves medical colleges adopting villages, and MBBS students adopting families within these villages. This enables regular follow-up of adopted families for vaccination, growth monitoring, menstrual hygiene, Iron & Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, healthy lifestyle practices, nutrition, vector control, and medication adherence.

The Ministry also highlighted the District Residency Programme (DRP) notified by the National Medical Commission (NMC), which provides for a compulsory three months posting cum training of PG medical students at District Hospitals as a part of the course curriculum. DRP benefits the public by strengthening healthcare delivery in rural and underserved areas.

On primary healthcare, Patel said that NITI Aayog commissioned an evaluation of the Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) programme assessing its implementation and impact. The study highlights several encouraging outcomes, including significant improvements in infrastructure and increased community footfall because of wider access to Comprehensive Primary Health Care services, especially for NCD management, general Out-Patient Department (OPD) care, free medicines and diagnostics.

"The introduction of Community Health Officers has strengthened frontline service delivery and digital tools such as e-Sanjeevani have expanded access to specialist care. Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the performance of various health programmes is also regularly monitored in all the States/UTs through review meetings, mid-term reviews of key deliverables, field visits of senior officials, promoting performance by setting up benchmarks for service delivery & rewarding achievements, etc. Also, Common Review Missions (CRMs) are conducted annually to assess and monitor the scheme's progress and implementation status," she said. 

Asked about steps taken by the government, MoS Health replied that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has undertaken several strategic initiatives to address the observations emerging from the findings and to improve service delivery & utilisation. These include the development of integrated training modules and strengthened collaboration with regional training institutes to enhance skill-based capacity building; the launch of Swasth Bharat Portal as an integrated portal to improve digital interoperability; optimal utilization of the Drugs and Vaccine Distribution Management System (DVDMS) to strengthen drug inventory and supply chain management.

"In addition, the Ministry has issued revised guidelines for Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) and Jan Arogya Samiti (JAS) to promote greater community participation and has developed standardized IEC materials to facilitate beneficiary-centric communication. Furthermore, incentive mechanisms are functional at AAM to strengthen the retention of human resources," she said. 

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