Nearly 10,000 more MBBS seats up for grabs this year
The National Medical Commission has approved nearly 10,000 additional MBBS seats in India for the 2026-27 academic session, bringing the total capacity to over 136,000. This expansion follows regulatory changes that allow medical colleges to apply for increased intake earlier in their development.
Why it matters
Increasing medical seats is critical for India to improve its doctor-to-population ratio and meet the high demand from millions of NEET-UG aspirants.
NEW DELHI: National Medical Commission has approved 9,911 additional undergraduate seats, taking the country's total MBBS capacity to a record 1,36,939 for the 2026-27 academic session.The seat matrix released by the regulator also shows 1,27,028 renewed seats apart from the additional ones, approved through new medical colleges and increased intake in existing institutions. The expansion comes at a time when over 22 lakh candidates appear for NEET-UG every year, with the demand for MBBS seats continuing to far exceed availability.Explaining the sharp rise in the number of MBBS seats, Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) president M K Ramesh said the increase was driven by changes introduced under Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023."Earlier, a medical college could apply for an increase in MBBS seats only after its first batch had completed four-and-a-half to five years. Under the 2023 regulations, that restriction has been removed.
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