150 Medical Colleges May Lose Recognition, 40 Already Penalised: Sources

Around 150 medical colleges of the country are likely to lose recognition of the National Medical Commission -- the regulatory body for country's medical education and medical professionals -- for inadequate faculty and non-compliance of rules, sources have said. Already, 40 medical colleges across the country have lost recognition and must show to the NMC that they are following set standards.

The list of colleges on the NMC's radar includes medical colleges in Gujarat, Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura and West Bengal, sources said.

The deficiencies were revealed during an inspection carried out by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board of the Commission for over a month, in which they looked into CCTV cameras, lapses in Aadhar linked biometric attendance procedures and the faculty rolls.

Sources said the colleges were not following the criteria, including proper camera installation and their functioning. Biometric facility was not working properly. Many posts in the faculties were also found vacant during the inspection.

The medical colleges have the option to appeal, sources said. The first appeal can be made at the NMC within 30 days. If the appeal is rejected, they can approach the Union Ministry of Health.

In December, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had warned of action against medical colleges that do not stick to rules or maintain proper faculty. "We have to give quality education to students, we have to produce good doctors," he had said.

Derecognition of 150 institutions could trigger a crisis for the country, where the number of medical colleges and seats for medical students have been inadequate for decades.  

According to the official data released by the Central government, the number of medical colleges has been increased almost twice since 2014.

In 2014, there were 387 medical colleges in the country. In 2023, the number has increased to 660. Twenty-two of them are All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, up from seven in 2014, reported news agency ANI.

The number of post-graduation seats also got a boost. There is a total of 65,335 post-graduate seats -- more than double what was in 2014, data shows. There were 31,185 post-graduate medical seats in 2014. The number of MBBS seats is 1,01,043 – up from 51,348 in 2014.

But derecognition for 150 medical colleges could bring down the number of medical colleges by almost a quarter.

In March, the Gujarat government told the state's legislative assembly that data till December showed that more than 1,900 posts are lying vacant at the state's government-run medical colleges and hospitals.