NMC rule change boosts Telangana’s medical college expansion plans

The removal of the NMC’s population-based seat cap has strengthened Telangana’s ambitious plan of medical colleges in every district, enabling expansion of MBBS seats while shifting focus toward addressing faculty shortages and improving healthcare education infrastructure.

Hyderabad: The recent gazette notification by National Medical Commission (NMC), which permanently deleted the clause which restricted medical seats based on a State’s population, has, in a way, validated Telangana’s vision of having a medical college in every district.

The ambitious journey that began with the formation of Telangana in 2014, transforming just five government medical colleges into a massive 33-district network, can now be further strengthened, as the recent NMC notification allows for expansion of seat capacities of new medical colleges.

---

The ‘100 seats per 10 lakh population’ rule of NMC, which has been removed now, loomed as a regulatory ceiling that threatened to penalise Telangana for its rapid medical infrastructure growth.

With its deletion, the path is now clear for Telangana to not only maintain its 34 government medical colleges but also to further expand seat capacities in existing institutions, and at the same time, strengthen efforts to recruit doctors and other caregivers at the earliest.

By scaling up at a hectic pace, Telangana has effectively emerged as the country’s primary hub for medical education. Since 2014, the State has added 29 government medical colleges, a feat unmatched by any other Indian State in a single decade.

In the 2023-24 academic year alone, Telangana contributed 43 per cent of all new government MBBS seats added across India. From a meager 2,850 seats (government and private) at statehood, the State is now crossing the 9,500-seat milestone.

A lot of efforts by the authorities at the helm of affairs have gone to ensure that the majority of the new MBBS seats remain accessible to local students. Almost 100 per cent of seats in colleges established post-2014 are reserved for local students, creating thousands of opportunities that didn’t exist a decade ago.

After Infrastructure, now Human Capital

While the ‘brick and mortar’ phase of developing the 33-district dream, spearheaded by the previous BRS government, is complete, the process of manpower continues to remain a work in progress. Critics have frequently pointed out the challenge of staffing these colleges with high-caliber faculty.

Addressing the criticism over lack of manpower in medical colleges, a senior health official said, “It’s a classic case of chicken-and-egg dilemma. While critics argue that the past government should have focused on recruitment, there was a need to create a demand by developing infrastructure. You can’t recruit first and then build later. By establishing the college first, the BRS government forced a massive, ongoing recruitment drive that is now slowly but surely catching up to the physical growth,” officials said.

The New ‘Telangana Standard’

The NMC’s decision to relax the physical distance between colleges and hospitals to 10 km also favours the State’s urban-rural district hospital model. By attaching existing district hospitals to new colleges, Telangana has avoided the ‘white elephant’ syndrome of building isolated facilities, instead opting to upgrade existing patient-heavy centers into teaching hubs.

The timeline of medical colleges in Telangana:

2014 (existing medical colleges): Osmania Medical College and Gandhi Medical College in Hyderabad, Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Adilabad and Government Medical College in Nizamabad. (5)

2016-17: Mahabubnagar and Siddipet (2)

2018-19: Nalgonda and Suryapet (2)

2022-23: Mancherial, Ramagundam, Jagtial, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Mahabubabad, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Sangareddy (8)

2023-24: Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Asifabad, Nirmal, Sircilla, Vikarabad and Jangaon (9)

2024-25: Jogulamba Gadwal, Narayanpet, Mulugu, Warangal, Medak, Yadadri Bhongir, Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri (8)