New Delhi: India has a total number of 706 medical colleges with an intake capacity of 1,08,848 MBBS seats, the Union Minister of State for Health, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. While Tamil Nadu has the highest number of medical colleges i.e. 74 colleges, the maximum number of MBBS seats i.e. 11745 MBBS seats are present in Karnataka.

Comparing the number of medical colleges and MBBS seats with that of the year 2014, Dr. Pawar further informed that there has been an 82% increase in medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 706 as of now.

On the other hand, the total number of MBBS seats has also increased by 112%. Before 2014, there were only 51,348 MBBS seats in the country, whereas as of 30.09.2023, the country has 1.08,848 MBBS seats.

According to the MoS Health, the 'Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals' has contributed largely for the increase in the number of medical colleges in the country. Under the Scheme, 157 Government medical colleges have been approved in three phases, and out of these, 108 medical colleges have become functional.

The information in this regard was provided by MoS Health while responding to several questions raised by Parliament member Dr. Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade. She was questioned about the Centrally Sponsored Scheme and the details of the medical colleges added under this scheme. Dr. Veerendra also sought the details of medical colleges and MBBS seats in India in 2014 and 2023.

He also questioned the MoS Health regarding the measures and steps taken by the Government to augment the medical education facilities and to improve the medical standards in the country.

Providing the details of medical colleges and MBBS seats, Dr. Pawar informed that in the year 2014, there were 387 medical colleges in India with an intake capacity of 51348 MBBS seats (including 673 MBBS seats in AIIMS). On the other hand, the MoS Health stated that as of 30.09.2023, India has altogether 706 medical colleges with an intake capacity of 108940 MBBS seats.

As per the breakup provided by the MoS Health Dr. Pawar, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of medical colleges but Karnataka has greater number of MBBS seats. There are 70 medical colleges in Karnataka with an intake capacity of 11745 MBBS seats. In case of Tamil Nadu, the State has 74 medical colleges but there are only 11650 MBBS seats, a little fewer than Karnataka.

Apart from these two, Maharashtra also has more than 10,000 MBBS seats. There are 68 medical colleges in Maharashtra with an intake capacity of 10845 MBBS seats. Uttar Pradesh also has 68 medical colleges, but there are less than 10,000 MBBS seats in the State. As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, there are 9903 MBBS seats in Uttar Pradesh.

There is only one medical college in States and UTs like Andaman & Nicobar Islands (114 MBBS seats), Arunachal Pradesh (50 MBBS seats), Chandigarh (150 seats), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (177 seats), Goa (180 seats), Meghalaya (50 seats), Mizoram (100 seats), Nagaland (100 seats), and Sikkim (150 MBBS seats). Tripura has 2 medical colleges with an intake capacity of 225 MBBS seats and Manipur has 4 medical colleges with an intake capacity of 525 MBBS seats.

Apart from these, there are 37 medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh (6485 MBBS seats), 13 in Assam (1550 seats), 21 in Bihar (2765 seats), 14 in Chhattisgarh (2005 seats), 10 in Delhi (1497 seats), 40 in Gujarat (7150 seats), 15 in Haryana (2185 seats), 8 in Himachal Pradesh (920 seats), 12 in Jammu & Kashmir (1339 seats), 9 in Jharkhand (980 seats), 33 in Kerala (4655 MBBS seats), 27 in Madhya Pradesh (4800 seats), 17 in Orissa (2525 seats), 9 in Puducherry (1830 seats), 12 in Punjab (1800 seats), 35 in Rajasthan (5575 seats), 56 in Telangana (8490 seats), 8 in Uttarakhand (1150 seats), and 35 in West Bengal (5275 MBBS seats).

"The Government has increased number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats. There is an increase of 82% in medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 706 as of now. Further, there is an increase of 112% in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 1,08,848 as of now," Dr. Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha.

*Data for 2023-24 may vary on granting of permission by NMC for new Colleges/ increase of seats and on withdrawal of permission for Colleges / seats.

#Including 673 MBBS seats in new AIIMS

Centrally Sponsored Scheme: 

Referring to the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the MoS Health informed, "The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare administers a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals’ with preference to underserved areas and aspirational districts, where there is no existing Government or private medical college with fund sharing between the Centre and State Governments in the ratio of 90:10 for North Eastern and Special Category States and 60:40 for others."

"Under the Scheme, 157 Government medical colleges have been approved in three phases, Out of these, 108 medical colleges have become functional," she added.

She also provided the phase-wise details of the medical colleges added under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. As per the data, 58 medical colleges have been added in Phase-I, 24 medical colleges have been added under Phase-II and 75 colleges have been added under the Phase-III of the scheme. Following are the details of the medical colleges added under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme.