With 91,927 MBBS seats, 612 Medical Colleges operative in India: Health Minister gives breakup

New Delhi: With an intake capacity of 91,927 MBBS seats, a total of 612 Medical Colleges are currently functioning in India, the Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya informed the Lok Sabha.

The aggregate has significantly increased by 8,652 MBBS seats in 54 institutes from last year's 83,275 seats in 558 medical colleges.

During a recent question hour in Lok Sabha, the Health Minister was asked to provide details on the number of MBBS seats allotted to Government and private medical colleges in the country and the institutes which have been set up during the last five years. Dr Heena Gavit and Dr Shrikant Eknath Shinde also sought to know whether the seats in existing medical colleges of various States are proposed to be increased and the steps proposed to be taken by the Government to fulfil the requirement of doctors as per the population in the country.

Responding to the queries, the Minister presented an in-detail data before the parliament comprising the total number of MBBS seats in Government and Private medical colleges operative in the country at present. Further, details of seats approved under Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Up-gradation of existing Government medical colleges to increase MBBS and PG medical seats in the country were also provided.

This information comes a few days later NEET 2022 was conducted in 3570 exam centres in 497 cities in India and 14 cities outside India for lakhs of candidates seeking MBBS admissions aspiring to be the future of the medical profession. All the concerned aspirants, as well as various stakeholders, can check out the detailed breakup of MBBS seats as summarised below.

MBBS Seats in India:

As informed by the National Medical Commission, a total of 91,927 MBBS seats are available in 612 Medical Colleges, 322 being Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) with 48,012 seats and 290 Private Institutes with 43,915 seats.

According to the data, currently, the state of Tamil Nadu has the highest number of MBBS seats with a total of 10,725 seats available for candidates seeking admission into 70 medical colleges. This is followed by Karnataka with 10,145 seats in 63 medical colleges. The state of Maharashtra has a total of 9,895 MBBS seats in 62 institutes, while Uttar Pradesh has a total of 9,053 seats in 67 medical colleges.

Gujarat comes next on the list with 5,700, Andhra Pradesh with 5,335 and Kerala with 4,225 MBBS seats in 31 medical colleges in each of the 3 states. Telangana has 34 medical institutes with a number of 5,040 MBBS seats for admissions this year while more are about to be set up.

West Bengal follows by 4,225 MBBS seats in 27 medical colleges. Madhya Pradesh has 25 institutes with 4,080 seats and Rajasthan is stated to have 26 colleges with 4,005 MBBS seats for students.

The list drops down to Bihar with 20 medical colleges having 2,415 MBBS seats, Odisha with 13 institutes having 2,125 seats, Punjab and Haryana each having 12 medical colleges with 1,750 and 1,660 MBBS seats respectively, Puducherry with 9 medical colleges having 1,630 available seats.

While Chattisgarh has also 12 medical colleges, the same as Punjab and Haryana, it has only 1,565 MBBS seats. Delhi has 10 institutes with 1,497 MBBS seats. Assam and Jharkhand, each have 9 medical collegs with 1150 and 930 MBBS seats respectively while Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh have 8 institutes each with 1150 and 920 seats respectively.

Manipur and Tripura have 375 in 3 institutes and 225 MBBS seats in 2 medical colleges respectively.

The states/UTs of Goa with 180 MBBS seats, Chandigarh 150 seats, Dadra and Nagar Haveli 150 seats, Sikkim 150, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 100, Mizoram 100, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya with 50 MBBS seats each are reported to have 1 medical college individually.

As per this data, the total number of medical colleges has increased from 480 in the academic year 2017-2018 to 612 institutes this year.

Seats approved under Centrally Sponsored Scheme for "Strengthening and up- gradation of Government Medical Colleges for starting new PG disciplines and increasing PG seats"

Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for 'Strengthening and up-gradation of State Government medical colleges for starting new PG disciplines and increasing PG seats', 5930 seats (4058 PG medical seats in Phase I and 1872 seats in Phase II) have been approved in 22 States/UTs in 2 Phases.

Phase-I

Phase-II

Dr Mandaviya further apprised about the various steps taken by the Government to increase the availability of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Seats:-

i. Centrally Sponsored Scheme for establishment of new medical college by upgrading district/ referral hospital under which 157 new medical colleges have been approved and 72 are functional

ii. Centrally Sponsored Scheme for strengthening/ upgradation of existing State Government/Central Government Medical Colleges to increase MBBS and PG seats.

iii. Central Sector Scheme for "Upgradations of Government Medical College by construction of Super Specialty Blocks" . A total of 75 projects have been approved

iv Under Central Sector Scheme for setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved. Undergraduate courses have started in 19 AIIMS.

v. Relaxation in the norms for setting up of Medical College in terms of requirement for faculty, staff, bed strength and other infrastructure.

vi. DNB qualification has been recognized for appointment as faculty to take care of shortage of faculty.

vii. Enhancement of age limit for appointment/ extension/ re-employment against posts of teachers/dean/principal/ director in medical colleges upto 70 years.