India Expands Medical Education
India Expands Medical Education
Key Takeaways
Introduction
India, with a population of 1.4 billion, faces the challenge of ensuring universal health coverage. Various people living in remote tribal areas and villages lack access to quality healthcare due to an insufficient number of trained doctors and specialists.
Recognising this critical gap, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has embarked on an unprecedented expansion of medical education infrastructure. On September 24, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved a landmark initiative to add over 10,000 new medical seats across existing government colleges and hospitals, representing a strategic investment of Rs. 15,034 crore over four years. This ambitious move is part of a broader vision to create 75,000 additional medical seats within the next five years.
“Approval of Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme will add significant PG and UG medical seats. This will improve our healthcare system and enhance medical education infrastructure. It will ensure that every part of India has availability of skilled doctors.”
– Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a post on X, September 24, 2025
The country has significantly expanded its medical infrastructure over the past decade, yet the demand continues to outpace supply.
Expansion of Medical Seats
Universal Health Coverage for 1.4 billion people depends on accessible and quality healthcare and a skilled and available workforce.
To make quality healthcare accessible to all —particularly the rural, tribal and hard-to-reach communities — the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Modi approved an additional 5,000 post-graduate and 5,023 undergraduate medical seats in existing government colleges and hospitals by 2028-29.
The total investment for this expansion is Rs. 15,034 crore, covering the period from 2025-26 to 2028-29. Of this, 68.5%, amounting to Rs. 10,303.20 crore will be funded by the Union government, while the remaining Rs. 4,731.30 crore will be contributed by the states. The investment per seat stands at Rs. 1.5 crore.
Prime Minister Modi envisions 75,000 additional medical seats in the next five years, and this new approval made on September 24, 2025, is a step towards that goal.
Benefits and Impact
Underserved communities will benefit from the addition of skilled medical workforce, particularly of specialists. Using the existing infrastructure is cost-effective and promotes balanced regional distribution of the workforce.
Other benefits and impacts are:
India’s Flourishing Medical Infrastructure
India has the highest number of medical colleges (808) and has been expanding its medical educational infrastructure for years.
There are 1,23,700 MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) seats today. In the last decade, 69,352 seats were added, a growth of 127%. During this period 43,041 post-graduate seats were added, a growth of 143%.
22 new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were approved under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, which aims to make affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare accessible to all people and regions and improve the quality of medical education in the country.
To facilitate the addition of new faculty, the National Medical Commission notified the Medical Institution (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025 in July.
These regulations are designed to widen the pool of eligible faculty, facilitate the expansion of undergraduate (MBBS) and postgraduate (MD/MS) seats in medical colleges across India and to meet the goal of 75,000 new medical seats over the next five years.
Some key reforms introduced by the new regulations are:
Conclusion
The recent approval of 10,023 additional medical seats is another step towards India achieving universal healthcare, and it builds on the country’s various initiatives in the past decade. It demonstrates the Government of India’s commitment to addressing the critical shortage of healthcare professionals, particularly in underserved rural and tribal communities, thereby turning India into a global medical hub.
The ripple effects will be profound; enhanced medical education standards, increased employment opportunities across healthcare sectors, and most importantly, improved health outcomes for crores of citizens who have historically lacked access to quality medical care.
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