New Medical Colleges: NMC to decide on number of seats after inspection

Ongole: The National Medical Commission will be conducting inspections in the new medical colleges very soon, and will decide on the number of seats allowed for them. The Directorate of Medical Education of Andhra Pradesh has appointed mentors for the new medical colleges.

There were only 11 medical colleges in the Andhra Pradesh state still the time of the bifurcation in 2014. In the new state, the Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women in Tirupati, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Mangalagiri were established. After the division of the constituencies, the next government envisioned having at least one government medical college in each district.

It announced the establishment of another 17 medical colleges in the state and started five colleges already at Vizianagaram, Rajamahendravaram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, and Nandhyal.

At present, there are a total of 6,485 MBBS seats in the 37 medical colleges in the state, including 3,235 seats in the government, and 3,250 seats in the private medical colleges. Construction works of another five colleges are almost completed at Markapuram, Paderu, Madanapalli, Pulivendula, and Adoni, and are expected to get another 750 MBBS seats, 150 in each of them.

The Medical Assessment and Rating Board, under the National Medical Commission, in its Establishment of Medical Institutions, Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023 issued in June 2023, included a clause to cap the number of MBBS seats in a particular state by prescribing 100 seats per 10 lakh population.

The MARB gives a chance to fulfil minimum standard requirements by sending a show cause notice to approve the seats, but may even disapprove if the management fails to prove it. The members of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board are about to inspect these five colleges in the first or second week of June and then allot seats to them.

The Director of Medical Education Dr DSVL Narasimham said that as the NEET results are about to release, they are expecting the MARB inspection soon. He said that they have already given instructions to the mentoring colleges to be ready for the inspection. He said that if the MARB satisfies with the available infrastructure and other provisions, it may grant the 150 seats, or may withhold some seats until the requirements are met.

The government laid the foundation for the five new medical colleges, about three years ago, but yet the buildings in some of them did not take shape.