Centre sanctions new medical college for J&K along with 379 MBBS seats

Srinagar, Dec 5: Union Minister of State for Health, Anupriya Patel, informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that 118 new medical colleges have been approved across the country, including one new medical college for Jammu and Kashmir in 2025–26.

As per the details shared, J&K is among only three states/UTs allotted one medical college in the upcoming academic year. Uttar Pradesh has received the highest allocation with 18 medical colleges sanctioned for 2024–25 and three more for 2025–26, while Maharashtra has been allotted 12 for 2024–25 and five for 2025–26. Madhya Pradesh will get eight medical colleges — four in each academic year. Most other states have been sanctioned two medical colleges each.

In addition, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revealed that J&K has been granted 379 additional MBBS seats and 118 MD/MS postgraduate seats for the current academic year. Nationally, 8,641 undergraduate seats were allotted in 2024–25 and 11,732 in 2025–26, while 4,188 postgraduate seats were approved for 2024–25 and 3,393 for 2025–26.

The Centre said the expansion of UG and PG medical seats is aimed at addressing the shortage of doctors in the country. The government plans to significantly increase the number of medical graduates by 2030 to help achieve the target doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000.