NMC announces 6,850 new MBBS seats for 2025-26 in line with expansion plan

The National Medical Commission has approved 6,850 new MBBS seats for 2025-26, aligning with the Centre's plan to expand medical education and improve India's doctor-patient ratio

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved a gross addition of 6,850 new MBBS seats for the academic year 2025-26, raising the undergraduate (UG) medical intake to 123,700 seats from 117,750 in 2024-25.

 

The country’s apex medical education regulator also announced that around 2,000 UG seats would remain on hold for reasons such as pending court cases, creation of supernumerary seats and non-compliance with certain norms, according to the tentative seat matrix released by NMC.

 

The expansion follows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget announcement in February of adding about 10,000 new UG and postgraduate (PG) medical seats.

 

These additions are part of the government’s broader plan to create around 75,000 new UG and PG seats over the next five years, as it seeks to meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standard of one doctor for every 1,000 people, compared to the current ratio of one doctor for 1,263 people.

 

The NMC seat matrix shows that new seats have been allocated to both new and existing government and private medical colleges. While 10 new private colleges were approved with 1,200 seats, 28 existing colleges received 1,515 additional seats for 2025-26.

 

Similarly, 32 existing government medical colleges were allocated 1,080 additional seats, while 13 new government colleges were approved for a total of 1,050 seats in the upcoming academic year.

 

With counselling still under way, the move is expected to improve admission prospects for over 1.23 million students who qualified the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025.