Revisit the rules on opening new medical colleges, says Parliamentary panel

New Delhi: A panel of lawmakers on Friday advised the government to “revisit” a controversial order from the National Medical Commission (NMC) effectively stopping new medical colleges in south India, while asking the ministry to form “region-specific norms.”

“Such one-size-fits-all criterion prescribed in the UG-MSR (Under Graduate-Minimum Standards Regulations) may be revisited to take into account the geographic imbalances, if any, and formulate region-specific guidelines/ norms,” said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health in its report on medical education.

The recommendation from the MPs came six months after NMC published the regulation, notifying the norms for opening up of new medical colleges.

The proposed criterion of 100 MBBS seats for every 10 lakh population would mean that none of the southern states can open new medical colleges, as the number of MBBS seats in each of the southern states was way above what the population-based formula suggests.

While Tamil Nadu has 11,600 seats for a projected population of 7.64 crore as of 2021, Karnataka has 11,695 seats (6.68 crore), Andhra Pradesh has 6,435 seats (5.27 crore), Kerala has 4,655 seats (3.54 crore), and Telangana has 8,540 seats (3.77 crore).

But according to the NMC guidelines, Tamil Nadu should have just around 7,600 seats while the maximum number of MBBS seats in Karnataka (6,700), Andhra Pradesh (5,300), Kerala (3,500), and Telangana (3,700) are also far below the reality.

The NMC notification titled "Guidelines for Undergraduate Courses under the Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses & Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023", triggered a huge political row with southern states blaming the Union government for unfair treatment.

Reviewing the issue, the Parliamentary Committee said it came across several concerns over some of the guidelines for opening of a new Medical College and also regarding permission to increase the number of undergraduate seats.

The lawmakers suggested that the government should estimate the number of pediatricians, ophthalmologists, neurosurgeons, critical care specialists and infectious disease specialists required over the next 20-25 years rather than just randomly increasing general surgery, pharma, and anatomy seats.

"The Committee believes that such a concerted effort to produce need-based specialists/ doctors commensurate with disease-burden specialists will secure India's healthcare needs in the future," it said in the report.

On the proposed NExT – the contentious exit examination for MBBS graduates – the panel has asked the government to “exhaustively examine the implications of implementation” and apply due diligence in addressing all concerns before taking a decision.

They also recommended giving adequate time to students for preparation and to make the evaluation criteria “moderate” to ensure that no graduates face an undue advantage or disadvantage.

In June 2023, the NMC came out with the Exit Test Regulations 2023 observing that the test would replace the final MBBS examination and act as a licentiate exam for grant of registration to practice. But a month later, the Commission said "the National Exit Test (NExT) examination is deferred on the advice of the Health Ministry till further directions."