50 new medical colleges approved in India this year, adding 8,195 UG seats: Sources

NEW DELHI: Fifty new medical colleges have been approved this year, adding 8,195 more undergraduate seats and taking the total number of such seats in the country past 1,07,658, official sources said on Thursday. With the addition of these 50 colleges (30 government and 20 private), the number of medical colleges in the country now stands at 702, they said.

The 50 medical colleges have been approved in Telangana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the sources said. The recognition of 38 medical colleges across the country was withdrawn in the last two-and-a-half-months during inspections by the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board of the National Medical Commission (NMC) for allegedly not following the prescribed standards, the sources said. Further, show-cause notices have been issued to 102 medical colleges, they added.

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Of the 38 medical colleges, 24 have appealed to the NMC while six have now approached the health minister. The colleges that have lost recognition are allowed to appeal once with the NMC and then with the health ministry after rectifying the deficiencies and inadequacies. The sources said the colleges were not found to be complying with the set norms and several lapses related to CCTV cameras, Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance procedures and faculty rolls were noticed during the inspections carried out by the UG board of the commission.

According to government data, the number of medical colleges in the country has increased significantly since 2014. There has been a 69-per cent increase in the number of medical colleges, from 387 before 2014 to 654 as of now, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha in February. Further, there was a 94-per cent increase in the number of MBBS seats, from 51,348 before 2014 to 99,763 as of now, and a 107-per cent increase in the number of post-graduate seats, from 31,185 before 2014 to 64,559 as of now. To boost the number of doctors in the country, the government has increased the number of medical colleges and subsequently, that of MBBS seats, Pawar had said.