NEW DELHI: There is an increase of 48,563 MBBS seats and 29,080 PG seats in the country from academic year 2020-21 to 2025-26, the centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

In a written reply, the Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, as per the National Medical Commission (NMC) the government has approved the addition of 10,023 medical seats under Centrally Sponsored Schemes across government colleges from financial year 2025-26 to 2028-29.

“The expansion of medical seats reduces the gap in the healthcare workforce, particularly in underserved regions and has a direct bearing on the doctor-population ratio across States, including Rajasthan,” she said.

“The growing number of medical seats, coupled with improvements in infrastructure and faculty, has made domestic institutions more accessible to Indian students,” the minister added.

NMC, as an apex regulatory body entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the quality of medical education has notified various Regulations namely Minimum Standards Requirement (MSR), Undergraduate Medical Education Regulations (GMER), 2023, Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 (MSMER-2023) and Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) Curriculum Guidelines 2024 to ensure the adherence to prescribed standards in medical education.

These regulations are designed to uphold the integrity and quality of medical education and training across the country.