Allied Healthcare (GAHC)

The Centre has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to adopt a public-private partnership (PPP) model to modernise and expand the state’s healthcare infrastructure, particularly in underserved rural and semi-urban areas.

In a letter to State Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare conveyed that working more with the private sector will be the quickest and most effective method to address the current gaps in healthcare delivery. The ministry pointed out that PPP initiatives can greatly enhance the availability, quality, and efficiency of medical services throughout the state.

"The Centre has advised Andhra Pradesh to widely adopt the PPP model for fast, tracking the expansion of the healthcare sector and to strengthen the service delivery mechanisms, " a government statement read on Wednesday.

As per the ministry, nuclear medicine services, mobile medical units, dental clinics, radiology facilities, and cancer day care centres are some of the key areas where PPP can be implemented. The Centre has proposed the engagement of private partners through contracts of five to ten years, thus, permitting long, term infrastructure development and operational stability.

The letter also highlighted issues with specialised care in smaller towns. It pointed out that people living outside major cities still have very limited access to nuclear medicine facilities for cancer diagnosis and neurological disorders. The Centre therefore proposed that district, level hospitals should be provided with facilities to offer services such as PET, CT scans, SPECT imaging, radiotherapy.

Besides that, the ministry drew attention to the shortage of staff and lack of proper infrastructure at community health centres (CHCs). Through a public, private partnership (PPP), the ministry suggested the upgrading of primary, level dental services across the State of Andhra Pradesh and considered it a matter of public health need.

On cancer care, the ministry stated that the PPP model is particularly suitable for setting up day care cancer centres, which offer treatment without the need for prolonged hospital stays. The Centre aims to ensure nationwide coverage of such centres by 2027–28. Fourteen cancer day care centres have already been sanctioned for Andhra Pradesh under this initiative.

The move aligns with the Centre’s broader strategy to improve healthcare access, reduce patient load on government hospitals, and encourage private sector participation in public health services.

After prolonged deliberations and mounting pressure from states, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) officially announced a significant reduction in the NEET-PG percentile criteria for admission to postgraduate medical courses, including MD and MS. The decision came after the completion of two rounds of counselling, with a large number of seats remaining vacant across the country. Candidates from the general and EWS categories in the 7th percentile too will now be considered eligible for PG medical admission, equivalent to 103 marks in NEET-PG. For General, PwD category candidates, the qualifying percentile was dropped to 5 percentile (approximately 90 marks). Interestingly, candidates from SC, ST, and OBC categories will now be eligible at 0 percentile, which means getting, 40 marks.

After the change in the percentile, it was clarified by the officials that candidates, who want to take part in the next counselling rounds under the relaxed criteria, need to register again.There have also been demands that candidates who did not secure their preferred courses in the first two rounds be allowed to participate in the fresh round.

Local seats registration in Gujarat will probably start on Thursday and the detailed admission time, table will be unveiled very soon.

In Gujarat only, there are about 642 seats that remain empty as a result of candidates not reporting, admissions not being confirmed, seats newly approved and seats that have not been converted.

The earlier eligibility criteria —50th percentile (general), 45th percentile (PwD), and 40th percentile (reserved categories) — were applied for the first two rounds of counselling.. However, despite this, over 20,000 PG medical seats remain vacant nationwide. In Gujarat alone, around 642 seats are currently vacant due to non-reporting by candidates, unconfirmed admissions, newly approved seats, and non-converted seats.

The development is expected to significantly influence the next phase of PG medical admissions across Gujarat and other states.

The Government of Sikkim has collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research's National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health (ICMR, NIRRCH) to conduct a detailed study on the state's decreasing birth rate, as per the officials.

A two day project coordination meeting was convened on January 6 and 7 at ICMR, NIRRCH in Mumbai to review the study's scope and execution. The study is meant to track fertility trends in Sikkim and examine the readiness of the state health system to manage the problems related to a low birth rate.

The study titled "Rapid Assessment of Fertility Trends, Determinants and Preparedness of the State Health System in Sikkim to Address Low Total Fertility Rate (TFR)", is supported by ICMR, NIRRCH and it is being conducted with technical guidance from ICMR, NIRRCH and the International Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), in association with the Government of Sikkim and other partner institutions.

The study aims to identify the factors responsible for the falling fertility rates and the decision of families to have fewer children in the state, officials said, adding that it would also look at the ability of hospitals and health services to meet the needs of infertile couples as well as reproductive health generally.

At the meeting, which was chaired by Dr. Geetanjali Sachdeva, Director of ICMR, NIRRCH, Dr. Anushree Patil, Scientist, F and Head of the Clinical Research Division at ICMR, NIRRCH and the study's principal investigator, was involved in a very detailed discussion with the teams of ICMR, NIRRCH and IIHMR.

The Sikkim government delegation was led by Rohini Pradhan, Additional Secretary-cum-Programme Director of Sikkim INSPIRES under the Planning and Development Department, who is also the study’s co-principal investigator. Senior doctors, academics and research staff from state hospitals and educational institutions were also present.

During the meeting, participants finalised the project plan, timelines and institutional roles, identified study locations across Sikkim, and approved data collection tools. To formalise the collaboration, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between ICMR-NIRRCH, IIHMR, ICMR-RMRCNE and the Government of Sikkim.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on January 9 announced that his government is planning to establish a dedicated health university to strengthen and streamline medical education in the state.

Addressing the media, Saha said Tripura currently has three medical colleges, one dental science college, three nursing colleges and one para-medical college, all of which are affiliated with Tripura University. He said the proposed health university would oversee and run these medical institutions, marking a significant step in the state’s healthcare and education reforms.

“The three medical colleges together offer 350 MBBS seats. We have already applied to the Centre for permission to increase 100 additional MBBS seats at the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC), and we are hopeful of a positive response,” the Chief Minister said.

Highlighting Tripura’s broader progress in higher education, Saha noted that several premier national institutions are already functioning in the state, including the National Forensic Science University (NFSU), National Law University (NLU), Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and the National Institute of Technology (NIT). “The days are not far when Tripura will emerge as an educational hub of the Northeast,” he asserted.

The Chief Minister also spoke about the state’s efforts to attract investment, stating that the second edition of the ‘Prabashi Tripurabashi Summit’ witnessed the participation of around 70 potential investors and entrepreneurs. He said many people originally from Tripura, now well-settled in various professional fields abroad, attended the summit at their own expense.

“The participants were encouraged by the initiatives taken by the state government and expressed keen interest in investing in Tripura,” Saha said, adding that such engagements reflect growing confidence in the state’s development trajectory.

The proposed health university, along with expansion of medical seats and increased investor interest, is being seen as part of the government’s long-term vision to position Tripura as a centre for quality education, healthcare and economic growth in the region.

The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) has officially informed the University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding the fresh set of eligibility criteria for admissions to undergraduate programmes in allied and healthcare fields that will come into effect from the 2026, 27 academic year. This move aims to unify admission standards across India’s allied health science education landscape.

According to the changed rules, NEET UG will be the only method by which one can get admission to the core programmes like Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT) and Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (BOT) without any exception. Candidates will have to take the National Eligibility, cum, Entrance Test (UG) as the first condition along with fulfilling the academic requirements of Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB) and the minimum aggregate marks.

However, admission to psychology, related programmes, especially Bachelor of Psychology (BPsy) and Bachelor of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work (BMPSW), will be through university or institute, level entrance tests. These tests will give universities an opportunity to select the best students from a variety of educational backgrounds as psychology courses generally get students from science, arts, and commerce streams.

For several other allied healthcare degrees such as optometry, medical radiology and imaging technology, medical laboratory science, nutrition and dietetics, emergency medical technology and more, Class 12 academic performance will continue to determine eligibility. These programmes typically require candidates to have studied PCB (or PCB/Mathematics where applicable), with some courses also mandating English at the higher secondary level.

NCAHP’s proposed framework reflects its broader strategy to standardise allied and healthcare education under a central regulatory framework established to elevate quality and ensure uniformity. However, final implementation depends on state councils and universities adopting these standards.

Students planning admissions for 2026-27 should prepare accordingly, particularly for NEET UG if targeting physiotherapy or occupational therapy, and keep track of university-specific test notifications.

It would have been a new government medical college in the state. However, the state will not be able to apply for any new government medical college this year also. As the apex body for medical education in India, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has called for applications from new medical colleges looking to provide undergraduate (UG) programs in FY2026-27. The deadline to submit applications is January 28, 2023.

The government was thinking of filing the two proposals of the government medical colleges Hoshiarpur and Kapurthla for the creation of a new medical college but, as no upgrade process has been started so far, Punjab will not get any new government medical college before 2027.

On confirming the development, a senior official of the Punjab medical education department, who asked not to be named said, "The department is not applying for any new government medical college this year as we do not have the necessary certificate. It will take eight to ten months to meet the NMC requirements for a new medical college application."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in its inaugural budget (2022), had committed to establishing 16 medical colleges over the next five years. With no adequate facilities available locally, a large number of students from Punjab annually go abroad for MBBS. There are currently only four government medical colleges in Punjab compared to seven private ones, which have nearly 60% of the total MBBS seats in the state. 

Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences in Mohali is the last government medical college in Punjab which was started in 2021 under the previous Congress government. The government medical college in Mohali had been set up after a gap of 48 years. When asked about the problems faced while applying for new colleges, a senior official said, Awarding of tender for upgradation of district hospitals in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala was delayed due to some issues. We are considering other possibilities for starting a medical college. It is worth mentioning that the department will have to meet a very long list of NMC conditions before it can apply for a new medical college. For example, it has to hire a minimum of 85 teaching staff for 100 MBBS seats.

Along with that, Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh mentioned that there was a proposal for four to five medical colleges, of which three are government colleges.

Dr Balbir Singh was asked about the proposed government medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. He replied, The tender for the upgrade of Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur hospitals will be opened by the end of this month. After that, work will commence. Apart from these two colleges, we have got land clearance from Punjab Waqf Board for setting up a college in Malerkotla.

Congress slams AAP

The president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is also the Ludhiana MP, has stated that to this point, the AAP government has failed to establish even one government medical college. He alleged that the government was only concentrating on advertising.