Parliament Question: Shortage of Medical Seats

GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 5700 TO BE ANSWERED ON27thMARCH 2026 SHORTAGEOFMEDICALSEATS

5700. SHRIRAMASAHAYAMRAGHURAM REDDY:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE be pleasedtostate:

(a) the current numberof Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate(PG) medicalseats availablein the country, State/UT-wise includinganyrecentchangesor expansions inthese numbers;

(b) the total annual number of aspiring medical students applying for UG and PG courses and how these figurescompare with the availableseats; and

(c)whether specificmeasuresare beingimplementedtoincrease thenumberof Undergraduate(UG) and Postgraduate (PG) medical seats in the country and if so, the details thereof including the establishment of newmedical collegesandthe expansion of existing Institutions? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE (SMT. ANUPRIYAPATEL)

(a) As informed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), currently there are 1,28,976 Under Graduate (UG) Seats & 85839 Post Graduate (PG) seats (including DNB/DNS) across the country.

The State/UT-wise detailsof the UG andPGSeats across the countryisat Annexure.

(b) As informed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), in the year 2025, a total of 22,76,069 candidates registered for NEET (UG), out of which 22,09,318 candidates appeared in the examination; further, in the current year 2026, a total of 22,79,724 candidates have registered for NEET (UG) andthe examis scheduledon03/05/2026. Nearly 2,42,000candidates appearedfor the NEET-PG 2025examination.

(c) Ministry of Health & Family Welfare administers a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals’ with preference to underserved areas andaspirational districts, where there isno existing Government or private medical college.Atotalof 157Medical Collegeshave been approvedinthe variousdistricts across the country out of which 137 are already functional. Further, support has also been provided for Strengthening/Upgradation of existing Sate Government/Central Government medical colleges to increase the number of MBBS (UG) and PG seats under which support has been provided for increase of 4977 MBBS seats in 83 colleges and 4058 PG seats have been approved in medical collegesacross the country.

Further, the Government has recently approved phase III and extension of the CSSs for StrengtheningandUpgradation of existing State/CentralGovernment Medical Colleges, StandalonePG Institutes and Government Hospitals for creation of 5000 PG seats and 5023 MBBS seats with anenhancedcost ceiling of Rs. 1.50crore perseat.

****Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5700 for answeron27.03.2026 Annexure State/UTWiseUnder-Graduate(UG) andPost-Graduate(PG)Seatsacrossthecountry Sl.No State/UT Under-Graduate (UG) Post-Graduate (PG) 1 Andhra Pradesh 7215 4206 2 Andaman& Nicobar 114 13 3 Arunachal Pradesh 100 23 4 Assam 1975 799 5 Bihar 3545 1623 6 Chandigarh 150 587 7 Chhattisgarh 2455 832 8 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 177 46 9 Delhi 1396 3033 10 Goa 200 159 11 Gujarat 7525 3881 12 Haryana 2710 1122 13 HimachalPradesh 970 400 14 Jammu & Kashmir 1676 808 15 Jharkhand 1255 289 16 Karnataka 13944 8442 17 Kerala 5404 2263 18 Madhya Pradesh 5725 3189 19 Maharashtra 12824 7187 20 Manipur 525 270 21 Meghalaya 200 37 22 Mizoram 100 10 23 Nagaland 100 00 24 Odisha 3025 1554 25 Puducherry 1873 1155 26 Punjab 1899 980 27 Rajasthan 7330 413628 Sikkim 150 34 29 Tamil Nadu 13050 6369 30 Telangana 9540 3997 31 Tripura 450 113 32 Uttar Pradesh 13425 6114 33 Uttarakhand 1450 2088 34 West Bengal 6499 2416

Note: 85839 post graduate seats include 17,664 in DNB, DrNB, FNB and Post MBBS Diploma seats ason date. *****