NMC suspends decision on MBBS seat cap amidst strong opposition from states

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced to hold back its decision to limit the number of MBBS seats to per 10 lakh population in every state. This announcement came after the three months of the declaration of this new regulation.

This amendment to suspend this decision came on Tuesday after the strong opposition from the states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and the union territory of Puducherry to NMC’s new regulation that was released on August 16, 2023.

This decision would have limited all five southern states from increasing their medical seat capacity for the academic session 2024-25.

The new



regulation, known as 'Guidelines for undergraduate courses under the establishment of new medical institutions, starting new medical courses, increase of seats for existing courses, and assessment and ratings Regulation 2023,' outlines that the approval for establishing new medical colleges and increasing MBBS seats in the upcoming academic session will be contingent on the seats-to-population ratio. This effectively limits the number of undergraduate medical seats in a state to 100 per 10 lakh population.

This rule is currently on hold and will be put into action starting the academic year 2025-26 after further discussions with stakeholders and reaching a consensus on the matter.