National Medical Commission has not come up with any decision on the freeze of the approval of New Medical Colleges and increase in MBBS seats for the 2025-26 academic session, as stated by the government in the Rajya Sabha.
In reply to this, Minister of State for Health, Anupriya Patel, said that the National Medical Commission has introduced a structured and transparent process in evaluating and approving the applications that are related to the approval of seats in medical institutions. In continuation of this, she said that the Medical Assessment and Rating Board, NMC, invites applications through their online portal for establishing new medical colleges or increasing the number of seats in the existing colleges. NMC works under sections 28 and 29 of the NMC Act, 2019, and the provisions of the ‘Establishment of Medical institutions, Assessment and Rating Regulations 2023’.
Institutions can submit applications only if they meet all the required criteria stated in the Minimum Standard Requirement issued by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board or Post-graduate Medical Education Board. After filing of applications, MRBS conducts preliminary scrutiny, and if any issue is found, then the notice is sent by the MARB for correction.
The assessment of medical colleges is done by the selected experts to maintain transparency and impartiality in the evaluation process. MARB can use such methods, but not to document verification that needs to be done in digital or other forms, like Aadhar-based attendance register, surprise physical assessment, verification of live video feed, photographs, and many more. All the assessments are examined by experts. If any issue is found, then the SCN will be issued to the college for rectification.
Then, the Letter of Permission is given to those colleges that pass all the criteria under the NMC Act, 2019.
