NMC Approves 118 New Medical Colleges; Govt sets ambitious target of 5,000 new PG seats.

This can be termed as a major boost to the medical education system of India and the overall healthcare capacity, as the National Medical Commission has permitted opening 118 new medical colleges across the country in the last two academic years.

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The Union Health Ministry informed Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament that for the academic year 2024–25, approvals were accorded to 74 medical colleges, and for 2025–26, 44 such permissions were granted, placing Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan as the top beneficiary states. This exponential growth is part of the government's long-term plan to bridge the gap in supply against growing demand for doctors.

The doctor–population ratio in India is 1:811, considering 80 percent availability of registered practitioners, said Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda. With 13,88,185 registered allopathic doctors and 7,51,768 AYUSH practitioners in the country, there is a perceptible progress towards having more health workers. Medical education has seen an unprecedented transformation by way of the number of colleges increasing from 387 to 818, MBBS seats from 51,348 to 1,28,875, and postgraduate seats from 31,185 to 82,059 since 2014.

The Union Cabinet has also cleared Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for adding 5,000 new PG medical seats, in addition to 5,023 additional MBBS seats through upgrading of government medical colleges and standalone PG institutes from 2025–26 to 2028–29, further boosting specialist training. It is also expected to ensure increased access to medical education, ease the severe shortage of specialist doctors, and boost overall healthcare infrastructure, especially in the country's underserved and rural areas. With such aggressive expansions, India gears up for future healthcare demands and inches closer to global standards with regard to doctor-patient availability and capacity in medical education.