The Centre reported a 102 per cent increase in the number of medical colleges and a 130 per cent rise in MBBS seats since 2014 aiming to facilitate easier healthcare access. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in Rajya Sabha informed that India now has 780 medical colleges compared to 387 in 2014, while MBBS seats at present stand at 1,18,137 from 51,348 in 2014.
Union Territories and some states including Andaman & Nicobar Island, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Telangana which had no medical colleges till 2013-2014, now have at least 1 medical college each.
States that saw significant growth in MBBS seats and medical colleges:
When it comes to medical education infrastructure, Uttar Pradesh saw a major surge with 86 colleges as of now up from 30 in 2014. Medical seats in the state have increased to 12,425 from 3,749 in 2014.
Karnataka has 73 colleges at present, a substantial increase from 46 in 2013-2014, while Maharashtra grew from 44 to 80 institutions in the past decade. The total number of MBBS seats in Tamil Nadu grew to 12,050.
In the Northeast, Nagaland and Mizoram opened their first medical colleges. Telangana witnessed an exponential growth in the sector with a total of 65 medical colleges and 9040 seats, significantly it had no medical colleges in 2014.
Madhya Pradesh expanded from 12 colleges to 31 colleges, while Rajasthan now has 43 colleges from 10 colleges. Chhattisgarh grew from five colleges to 16 colleges while Deli increased from 7 to 10 institutions.
The Centre also informed that PG 135%, from 31,185 in 2014 to 73,157 in 2024.
What led to the growth?
Initiative taken by the government including upgradation of district hospitals into medical colleges and establishing new AIIMS contributed majorly to the growth of medical colleges. 19 out of the 22 newly introduced AIIMS provide undergraduate courses.
