Pushed into a corner by southern states rendered ineligible to increase their seat capacity, here's why the medical education regulator has taken a step back until further stakeholder consultations take placeThree months after its announcement, the National Medical Commission (NMC), the country’s apex medical education regulator, has suspended its decision to limit the number of MBBS seats to 100 per 10 lakh population in every state — a move that would have otherwise barred all five southern states from increasing their medical seat capacity for the next academic session (2024-25).The development, announced by the NMC on Wednesday, follows strong opposition from states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and the Union territory of Puducherry against the new regulation notified on August 16.The regulation — titled “Guidelines for undergraduate courses under the establishment of new medical institutions, starting new medical courses, increase of seats for existing courses, and assessment and rating Regulation 2023” – states that approval for new medical colleges and an increase in the number of MBBS seats from the next academic session would be based on the seats-to-population ratio. It basically caps the number of undergraduate medical seats in a state to 100 per 10 lakh population.This provision is now in abeyance and will only be implemented for the 2025-26 academic year, after further stakeholder consultations happen, and until consensus can be developed on the matter. According to sources, the Health Ministry asked the NMC to reconsider the move amidst strong opposition from some states.This is among a slew of decisions the NMC has either put in abeyance or rolled back recently following opposition by stakeholders. Only two-and-a-half months ago, it put on hold its new guidelines that made it mandatory for doctors to prescribe only generic drugs, following backlash from the country’s largest doctors’ body, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), as well as the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), which described the move as “not feasible”.
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