National Medical Council relaxes medical faculty rules

New NMC 2025 rules allow non-teaching consultants with experience to become professors without senior residency. Government hospitals with 220 plus beds can become teaching institutes. The reforms aim to expand medical faculty, boost MBBS/PG seats, and strengthen India’s healthcare education

New Delhi: Non-teaching specialists or consultants with 10 years of experience at government hospitals can now be appointed as associate professors, while those with two years can serve as assistant professors without the mandatory senior residency, in a move to widen the pool of eligible faculty.

The new regulations by the National Medical Council (NMC) also stipulate that non-teaching government hospitals with over 220 beds can now be designated as teaching institutions. The previous 2022 regulations allowed non-teaching doctors to become assistant professors after two years in 330-bed non-teaching hospitals that were being converted into medical colleges.

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“A non-teaching consultant or specialist or medical officer, possessing PG medical degree with at least two years of experience in a government hospital having at least 220 beds shall be eligible to become an assistant professor of that broad specialty without the requirement of experience as senior resident and shall complete the basic course in biomedical research within two years of appointment,” the Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025 notified recently said.

These regulations, brought in by the Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) under NMC, aim to widen the pool of eligible faculty and facilitate the expansion of undergraduate (MBBS) and postgraduate (MD/MS) seats in medical colleges across India, the Commission said. India’s healthcare system is undergoing significant transformation with the Centre announcing a vision to add 75,000 new medical seats over the next five years.

“However, a critical bottleneck has been the availability of qualified faculty required to initiate or expand medical programs. These new regulations are a major step towards unlocking the existing human resource potential within government health systems and optimising medical education infrastructure,” it said.

According to the regulations, PG courses can now be started with two faculty members and two seats, relaxing the earlier requirement of three faculty and a senior resident. Bed requirements per unit have also been rationalised for several specialties.

Besides, senior consultants with three years of teaching experience in NBEMS-recognised government medical institutions are eligible for the post of professor.

Diploma holders working as specialist or medical officer in the respective departments of a government medical institution or a government medical institution running National Board of Examination and Medical Science recognised teaching programme having cumulative experience of six years, shall be eligible for the post of assistant professor.

The new regulations stated that a cumulative period of up to five years served by a faculty member in the NMC or a University or State Medical Council or medical education department or medical research related government organisation, shall be deemed as teaching experience.

New government medical colleges are now permitted to start UG and PG courses simultaneously, expediting the production of healthcare professionals and teaching faculty, the regulations said.

The upper age limit for appointment as senior resident has been increased to 50 years in pre-clinical and para-clinical subjects such as Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, Forensic Medicine.

Experience gained as tutors or demonstrators by candidates with postgraduate qualifications shall be considered valid for the purpose of eligibility as assistant professor, the new regulations stated.

“These forward-looking regulations mark a paradigm shift in how faculty eligibility is determined, shifting the focus from rigid service norms to competency, teaching experience, and academic merit. By unlocking the untapped potential within the existing government healthcare workforce, this reform will accelerate the expansion of medical education, particularly in underserved areas,” the regulations stated.

The Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025 will directly support the national goal of expanding access to quality medical education, strengthening institutional capacity, and producing a robust pipeline of healthcare professionals to serve India’s growing needs.