The National Medical Commission’s (NMC) decision to allow and allocate medical education seats according to the population of a State or Union Territory is turning into a southern States versus the Centre debate on the freedom to provide healthcare and education to people. The order comes into effect from the next academic year.
Some of the States and Union Territories that are likely to be hit by the decision are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Puducherry. They want to appeal against what they claim is discrimination for doing well. In these States, the number of medical seats have exceeded the ratio as recommended by the NMC order. Experts note that apart from these states, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Sikkim will also be adversely affected.
The NMC notification covers both government and private medical colleges and was issued last month. It says, “After 2023-24 (which means from the 2024-25 academic year), a letter of permission for starting of new medical colleges shall be issued only for annual intake capacity of 50/100/150 seats [new medical colleges will only have 50-150 seats] provided that medical colleges shall follow the ratio of 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population in that State/Union Territory”.
