Hyderabad meet spotlights NMC’s plan to expand MBBS seats while tightening training standards

The big picture

A policy push to add doctors without weakening training standards led the agenda at the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Hyderabad City branch’s foundation day event at AIG Hospitals. NMC chairman Abhijat Sheth said India will expand MBBS seats while reinforcing quality across undergraduate and postgraduate education. For 2025–26, the NMC has approved 1.23 lakh MBBS seats, reflecting one of the largest intakes globally.

Quality and quantity: balancing the pipeline

The NMC’s stated objective is to match growth in undergraduate seats with robust postgraduate and residency opportunities. Officials acknowledged persistent bottlenecks in postgraduate training caused by faculty shortages and fragmented learning resources. A better equilibrium between undergraduate and postgraduate seats—ideally approaching parity—was framed as vital to protect standards, ensure fair opportunity, and meet India’s specialist needs.

Key challenges flagged: - Insufficient postgraduate seats relative to rising MBBS intake - Faculty shortages, uneven clinical exposure, and divided teaching resources - The risk that rapid expansion could dilute hands-on training if not carefully planned

Curriculum and assessment reforms

The NMC reiterated its move toward competency-based medical education. Beyond traditional classroom teaching, the regulator wants institutions to integrate: - Skill labs and simulation - Virtual and digital learning tools - Artificial intelligence as a supplement to clinical education

Core professional skills—including communication, medical ethics, empathy, and clinical research—are to be embedded as non-optional requirements. On assessments, the NMC took note of concerns over excessive negative marking in entrance and qualifying exams and signaled interest in more balanced evaluation methods that maintain rigor while reducing unintended disadvantages for candidates.

Infrastructure rules and accreditation, simplified

Legacy norms on land and infrastructure, once designed to gatekeep quality, were identified as potential barriers to expansion today. The NMC plans to streamline accreditation and inspection processes so colleges can devote more bandwidth to teaching, mentoring, and student support. The regulator emphasized that guardrails would remain, but procedures would be more transparent and less burdensome.

Priority areas for simplification: - Rationalizing land and building requirements in line with contemporary educational needs - Reducing procedural friction in accreditations and renewals - Encouraging student-centric facilities, including adequate hostels for younger cohorts

Coordination across national and state systems

The commission’s approach depends on steady coordination with state medical councils and health departments. In Telangana—where the government and private sector have rapidly added capacity—policy alignment will be central to expanding postgraduate seats, recruiting faculty, and ensuring adequate clinical material for training. Hyderabad’s tertiary-care ecosystem and the state’s newer district colleges together present both an opportunity and a stress test for the proposed reforms.

What this could mean for Telangana: - Competitive pressure to increase postgraduate and super-specialty seats - Investment in faculty development, teaching hospitals, and simulation infrastructure - Clearer, faster accreditation pathways for both new and existing institutions - Greater emphasis on patient safety and supervised clinical exposure as student numbers rise

Pace of reform: avoid whiplash, build durability

While endorsing change, the NMC cautioned that reform should be sequenced. Abrupt, sweeping shifts can cause confusion for institutions and learners. The commission’s near-term tasks were outlined as threefold: calibrate numbers across UG and PG, remove unnecessary regulatory hurdles, and reinforce quality in teaching, learning, and infrastructure.

Why it matters

• Workforce planning: Telangana and the wider region need more specialists and well-trained generalists to serve tier-2 and tier-3 districts. Aligning undergraduate growth with postgraduate capacity is critical to avoid mismatches.
• Quality and patient safety: Competency-based learning, better supervision, and simulation tools aim to safeguard clinical standards as student volumes increase.
• Equity and access: A fairer assessment regime and clearer pathways into postgraduate training can widen opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds and regions.
• Institutional viability: Streamlined accreditation and updated infrastructure norms can help colleges focus resources on instruction and student support rather than compliance alone.

What’s next for Telangana

• Capacity planning: Colleges and teaching hospitals may map postgraduate seat expansion to faculty strength and case load, with phased growth to preserve training depth.
• Skills and digital investment: Expect more skills labs, simulation centers, and digital platforms across Hyderabad’s private institutions and newer government colleges.
• Assessment changes: If the NMC recalibrates negative marking or formats, state aspirants could see revised entrance and evaluation patterns in upcoming cycles.
• Collaborative governance: Regular coordination between the NMC, Telangana’s health and medical education departments, and state medical councils will be key to translating national policy into stable, on-the-ground improvements.

Bottom line

Hyderabad’s medical community heard a clear message: India will produce more doctors, but not at the expense of training quality. For Telangana, the reforms point toward a larger, more modernized pipeline—from classrooms and skills labs to residencies—designed to deliver competent practitioners for both urban hubs and underserved districts.