NEW DELHI: India’s medical education system is set for its biggest expansion yet, with the Cabinet on Wednesday approving the creation of 5,000 new postgraduate seats and 5,023 MBBS seats in govt institutions. It also cleared the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (DSIR) Capacity Building and Human Resource Development scheme with an outlay of Rs 2,277 crore to strengthen India’s R&D pipeline.The Cabinet’s approval for the DSIR scheme will add vigour to India’s R&D ecosystem, with a focus on a culture of innovation as well as excellence, PM Modi said.He also said that approval of Phase-III of the centrally sponsored scheme will add significant number of PG and UG medical seats. “This will improve our healthcare system and enhance medical education infrastructure. It will ensure that every part of India has availability of skilled doctors,” the PM said.The medical education decision will fund the upgrade of state and central medical colleges, standalone PG institutes and govt hospitals, with an enhanced cost ceiling of Rs 1.5 crore per seat.Together, the two initiatives represent a combined push to expand the country’s pool of doctors and scientists. The medical seat expansion scheme carries a financial implication of Rs 15,034 crore over 2025-29, of which the Centre will bear Rs 10,303 crore and states Rs 4,731 crore. Officials said the expansion will ensure a steady pipeline of specialists, introduce new disciplines, and make better use of existing infrastructure.With 808 medical colleges and 1.23 lakh MBBS seats – the largest in the world – India has added over 69,000 MBBS and 43,000 PG seats in the past decade. Yet, gaps remain, particularly in underserved rural and tribal regions. The new approval aims to bridge these gaps while also generating large-scale employment – from doctors and faculty to paramedics and administrators.The DSIR scheme nod will back doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, extramural research, Bhatnagar Fellowships, and travel and symposia grants. Covering universities, institutes of eminence, national labs and R&D centres, it seeks to expand India’s researcher base, improve global rankings and support STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medical and Mathematical) disciplines.
