NMC extends abeyance of 150 MBBS seats cap for medical colleges
New Delhi: In a relaxation for medical institutes, the provision of an upper limit of 150 seats for the MBBS course per medical college has been kept in abeyance for another academic year by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that releasing the "Guidelines for Under Graduate Courses under Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses & Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023", which were published in the official Gazette on August 16, 2023, NMC had stated that the intake capacity for the new medical colleges being set up from the academic year 2024-2025 would be restricted to a maximum number of 150 MBBS seats.
Under Chapter I of the UG-MSR 2023, "(i) College seeking increased number of seats cannot exceed a total of 150 MBBS students from the year 2025-26. Provided that medical college shall follow the ratio of 100 MBBS seats for 10 lakh population in the state/U.T."
Last year, the Apex Medical Commission had decided to keep these rules on abeyance for the academic year 2025-2026. Recently, NMC invited online applications for the establishment of new medical colleges intending to start MBBS courses and for an increase in the intake of UG seats in the existing Medical Colleges through the web portal for the Academic year 2026-27.
Along with the notice, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of the Apex Medical Commission has also outlined the conditions for establishing new medical colleges, clarified the application process, and specified the guiding documents for completing online applications for undergraduate courses for the academic year 2026-2027. While laying down the conditions, NMC specified that the 150-seat cap rule is kept in abeyance for the Academic Year 2026-2027 as well.
With the extension of the NMC relaxation on MBBS admissions for existing colleges, eligible medical colleges will be allowed to admit more MBBS students than they would have been permitted under the UG-MSR 2023 rules.
Therefore, medical colleges can now seek approval to increase MBBS seats if they meet the prescribed benchmarks for faculty strength, infrastructure and clinical exposure.
In September 2023, while releasing the UG-MSR guidelines, NMC had also prescribed a ratio of 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population. In this regard, the guidelines had mentioned, "After A.Y. 2023-24, Letter of permission (LOP) for starting of new medical colleges shall be issued only for annual intake capacity of 50/100/150 seats; Provided that medical college shall follow the ratio of 100 MBBS seats for 10 lakh population in that state/ U.T."
As a result of this new norm, several southern states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana, became ineligible to apply for any new medical college or MBBS seats. Later, the plan was deferred.
Recently, Union Government clarified that the National Medical Commission's directive to cap MBBS seats based on State population norms will not be enforced for the two academic years of 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
In this regard, the Union Health Minister JP Nadda told the Rajya Sabha recently that "The implementation of capping MBBS seats by the National Medical Commission (NMC) has been deferred for the academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26."
