NEW DELHI: In a major push to expand India’s medical workforce, the Centre has approved the addition of 10,023 new medical seats across government institutions — including 5,000 postgraduate seats and 5,023 MBBS seats — in what is being seen as a significant capacity boost.Informing Parliament, Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said Phase-III of a Centrally Sponsored Scheme has been cleared to strengthen and upgrade existing State and Central government medical colleges, standalone postgraduate institutes and government hospitals.The expansion will be implemented from 2025-26 to 2028-29, with the cost ceiling enhanced to ₹1.50 crore per seat, reflecting rising infrastructure and equipment costs.Under the approved plan, 5,000 additional postgraduate seats will be created to address specialist shortages, while the scheme for the upgradation of government medical colleges has been extended to facilitate 5,023 new MBBS seats.States and Union Territories have been asked to submit Detailed Project Reports along with gap analysis. The guidelines direct them to prioritise institutions in underserved and rural areas and focus on key broad specialities while proposing new seats. Alongside seat expansion, regulatory reforms have been introduced to ease growth.The National Medical Commission has notified updated education and faculty regulations, widened eligibility norms for teachers and recognised more hospitals as teaching institutions to support expansion.The Centre said the measures are aimed at increasing access to medical education, improving regional equity and strengthening the country’s healthcare workforce pipeline.With demand for medical seats far outstripping availability each year, the addition of over 10,000 seats is expected to significantly impact admission capacity in the coming academic cycles.
