Union Minister of State for Health Smt. Anupriya Patel recently informed the Lok Sabha that there are 72,627 postgraduate (PG) medical seats and 1,12,112 MBBS seats available in medical colleges across the nation.
She further disclosed that there are currently 731 medical colleges operating in India, an 88% growth from the 387 that existed prior to 2014.
Based on data from the Ministry of Health, there has been an increase of 118% in MBBS seats and 133% in PG seats since 2014. Prior to 2014, 31,185 PG seats and 51,348 MBBS seats were offered nationwide.
In response to questions from Shri Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy, the Minister was providing information on the total number of UG and PG medical seats that were available in Private and Government Medical Colleges over the previous three years as well as the details of the actions that the Government took to boost the number of seats in Government Medical Colleges. Furthermore, he asked as to what actions the government had made to raise the standard of education at medical colleges.
A breakdown of the MBBS and PG seats (apart from NBEMS) that were open at Private Government Medical Colleges over the previous three years was also given by Minister Patel.
In total, 92,127 MBBS and 46,118 PG medical seats were available in India for the academic year 2021–2022, according to data released by MoS Health. Of these, there were 43915 MBBS and 17858 PG seats available in the private medical colleges, and 48212 MBBS and 28260 PG medical seats available in the government medical colleges.
In 2022–2023, there were 49,573 PG medical seats and 96,277 MBBS seats in the nation. Of these, 3602 PG seats and 51912 MBBS seats were located in government medical colleges, while 44365 MBBS and 30211 PG medical seats were located in private medical colleges.
The nation has 54,834 PG medical seats available and 108,940 MBBS seats overall in the academic year 2023–2024.
According to MoS Patel, the following are the actions/measures that the government has made to enhance the standard of education and increase the number of seats in the Government Medical Colleges:
1. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), which upgrades districts and referral hospitals to create new medical colleges, has resulted in the approval of 157 new medical colleges, 109 of which are currently operational.
2. CSS for upgrading and strengthening current State Government/Central Government medical colleges in order to accommodate more MBBS (UG) and PG seats. Support has been given for the addition of 4977 MBBS seats in 83 colleges at an approved cost of Rs. 5972.20 Cr, 4058 PG seats in phase-I in 72 colleges at an approved cost of Rs. 1498.43 Cr, and 4000 PG seats in phase-II in 65 colleges at an approved cost of Rs. 4478.25 Cr.
3. A total of 75 projects have been sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) "Upgradation of Government medical colleges by construction of SuperSpecialty Blocks" component, of which 66 projects are completed.
4. 22 AIIMS have been approved under the Central Sector Scheme for the establishment of new AIIMS. In 19 of these, undergraduate courses have begun.
5. In order to address the faculty shortage, the DNB qualification has been acknowledged for appointment as teaching faculty.
6. Raising the age limit to 70 years old for appointments, extensions, and reemployment against positions as directors, deans, principals, and teachers at medical colleges.
India has 70,645 postgraduate medical seats and 1,08,940 MBBS seats overall, as reported to the Lok Sabha by former Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The former Health Minister did, however, disclose that in addition to the PG seats, there were 1621 CPS and 14190 DNB seats, based on the State/UT wise division.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Priyanka Pandey)