NMC drafts rules to sideline states on medical college approvals, gets tougher on infrastructure norms

The state governments may no longer have a say in approving new medical colleges, as the National Medical Commission (NMC) has proposed removing the state-issued essentiality certificate (EC) from the list of documents required to set up new institutions.

While relieving the new institutes of EC requirement, NMC has stressed that they must complete the construction of the college and hospital buildings before seeking the regulator’s approval. And as announced earlier, the commission has moved to once again permit all companies, including for-profit ones, to establish medical colleges.

The proposed changes have been included in a draft amendment to NMC’s Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Assessment & Rating Regulations, 2023. The revised regulations have been released for stakeholder comment. If notified, the new norms will likely be implemented from the next approval cycle, as the one for academic year 2026-27 is already underway.

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NMC: EC requirement hassle for medical colleges

First introduced in 2017, EC has been a key prerequisite for medical college applicants. The current format of the document provides for the state government to ascertain the need and feasibility of setting up the proposed institute, and affirm that the applicant fulfills the NMC’s infrastructure and clinical criteria, and possesses the necessary land and building clearances from the state.

However, NMC believes that the requirement has been reduced to a mere formality and is unnecessarily adding to the colleges’ hassle. “There was a purpose being served or value added by EC. It was just another unnecessary step. The states would simply fill out the form with old data without proper checks,” said an NMC official.

The official points out that the new colleges would still need a consent of affiliation (CoA) letter from a university to get approval.

Pravin Shingare, a former director of medical education in Maharashtra, welcomed the change, claiming that EC had simply become a tool for corruption. The EC requirement was being misused by politicians to extract money from colleges. The norms stipulated in the certificate were often sidelined in favour of colleges. So, it’s a good decision,” he said.

Shingare, however, points out that the amendment would deprive the state governments of an important right and an opportunity to regulate the expansion of medical education in its territory. He also alleged that the decision comes at the behest of private educational institutions.

“A state would want systematic expansion of medical training facilities across its geography, prioritising deprived areas such as Konkan and Vidarbha in Maharashtra. But private entities want to set up colleges in urban areas, where they can earn more. As a result, some places have come to have more colleges than they need,” he said.

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NMC Draft Rules: Stricter infra norms

On the other hand, the NMC has, however, sought to more strictly enforce other norms, especially those pertaining to infrastructure. A new clause being added to the regulations reads, “Infrastructure and other statutory requirements as per the regulations shall be complete at the time of application. Temporary arrangement for the Hospital and college building shall not be permitted. A work-in-progress status of the applicant institute shall not be considered for further processing of the application.”

A proviso in the original regulations has been amended to clarify that the applications without the necessary documents will be rejected without recourse.

The NMC official said that this is aimed at preventing inadequate applications. ”A perception got created that NMC was permitting everyone in a bid to expand medical education. Hence, many people were applying without even constructing the college buildings,” he said.

The commission has also withdrawn another clause requiring colleges to submit documentary proof of the existence of a corpus fund to run the institute. Instead, a new paragraph has been added that merely requires giving an undertaking for earmarking the funds and submitting the documentary proof “whenever directed by the MARB [the Medical Assessment and Rating Board.”

This concession, according to the NMC official, is being given as MARB is yet to specify the minimum amount for the corpus.