National Medical Commission approves 6,850 new MBBS seats for 2025-26

India's premier medical education regulator approved a gross increase of 6,850 MBBS seats in 2025-26 which can raise the intake for the highly coveted undergraduate medical degree course across the nation to 123,700.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) further suspended about 2,000 seats across the country for non-compliance with certain norms, and the colleges have been given an opportunity to plug gaps so that these seats can be made available, government officials familiar with the matter said anonymously.

This sudden hike in MBBS (bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery) seats by the NMC will increase admission possibilities for the over 12.3 lakh students who cleared the NEET-UG 2025 test. These new seats have been created in new as well as old government and private medical colleges, the above-quoted government officials and documents with Mint reported.

NEET-UG stands for National Eligibility Entrance Test-Undergraduate, which is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to undergraduate medical courses, even at the high-profile All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. The counselling for NEET still goes on and the admission process keeps on going on.

The NMC data, as seen by Mint, for MBBS seat Matrix for the year 2025-26 shows a staggering rise in medical education infrastructure. The report showed a total of 6,850 new seats have been made available for this year.

These new seats are spread across 13 new government colleges with 1,050 seats, and 32 existing government colleges with 1,080 additional seats. In the private sector (societies and trusts), there were 10 new colleges approved with 1,200 seats, and 28 existing colleges with 1,515 additional seats.

Questions sent to the health ministry via email remained unresolved until press time.

Seat allocations by state

New government medical colleges have also been approved in the states of Kerala (Kasaragod Government Medical College, 50 seats) and Uttar Pradesh (ESIC Medical College, Noida, 50 seats).

Similarly, new private colleges like Anna Gowri Medical College and Hospital in Andhra Pradesh (100 seats) and Balvir Singh Tomar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Rajasthan (150 seats) have also been approved.

Besides that, a number of existing medical colleges were also permitted to increase their intakes. Some of them include Assam Medical College, whose seats were increased from 200 to 250, and Madhubani Medical College in Bihar, which increased by 100 seats to become capable of holding 250.

Regulatory control and cost impact

"This climb is a major move by the government to meet the growing demand for healthcare professionals and improve the quality of medical education by providing more opportunities of clinical training and practice. The NMC, being the central regulator, ensures the quality of medical education," a senior government official familiar with the development said.

"Undergraduate students welcome the hike, which is a relief for them as it offers a more cost-effective and cheaper way to build up a medical professional in India," the official added.

While the NMC gives a regulation of fees, wherein at most 50% of the private institution's and identified university's seats should be comparable to government medical college fees of the respective state, fees remain astronomical. The Economic Survey 2024-25 recorded the cost of an MBBS degree in private institutions ranging from ₹60 lakh to over ₹1 crore, which sweeps 48% of the overall MBBS seats.

Dr. Aashish Chaudhry, MD at Aakash Healthcare, felt that India doesn't have enough doctors and there are too many people who still harbor the dream of becoming a doctor. "Doubling the seats will certainly fill this vacuum and make the country's medical system strong," he felt.

Another government official stated that only after "diligent vigilance and scrutiny" was the number of seats increased. "If 100 seats were asked for by some colleges, only 50 seats were allotted. Firmness has increased," said the official, repeating that the government is thinking about means of acquiring good faculty members.

National president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) with an estimated 3.5 lakh member doctors all over India, Dr. Dilip Bhanushali had a different outlook. In his view, "raising seats will not help to better medical education. India needs robust medical education infrastructure, and more qualified faculties in the colleges." He even protested about significant positions on the NMC have not been filled up yet despite repeated requests.