NMC population cap for medical colleges: Andhra Health Minister meets Mandaviya, seeks relaxation on NMC rules

New Delhi: Demanding relaxation in the two provisions of the National Medical Commission (NMC), Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Vidadala Rajini on Wednesday met Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

According to a PTI report, an official statement said Mandaviya responded positively to Rajini’s request and assured him that appropriate measures will be taken.

“The NMC has brought many new regulations. The new rules have been brought to allow only one hundred seats for every ten lakh population in each state,” Rajini said in her representation to the central government.

The other NMC rule states that a hospital with a capacity of 605 beds should be provided for new medical colleges, she said and expressed concern over these two provisions.

Rajini said: “These two provisions would cause serious damage to the newly formed state of Andhra Pradesh. After the bifurcation of the state, Andhra Pradesh lost badly in terms of medical care services.” In the meeting, she informed that the Andhra Pradesh government is constructing 17 new medical colleges with an investment of Rs 8,480 crore. The construction of five medical colleges has already been completed and would be operational next year.

The work of the remaining 12 colleges is going on at a fast pace, she said and added due to the new rules, there will be no chance of sanctioning even a single medical college in the state. Rajini urged the Centre to take initiatives to ensure that there is no loss in the provision of modern medicine to Andhra Pradesh.

NMC capped the total number of MBBS seats in a particular State/UT through its recently released "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".

Releasing these guidelines, the Apex Medical Commission prescribed a ratio of 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population. These Guidelines 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."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that as a result of this new rule, several southern states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana became ineligible to apply for any new medical college or any more seats.