From 500 to 1525, J&K MBBS seats triple since 2018, but targets still elusive
Srinagar, Oct 14: The anatomy of Jammu and Kashmir’s uneven medical leap reveals that Kashmir’s white coats have multiplied threefold in seven years, from 500 in 2018 to 1525 in 2025, yet the gaps persist.
Over the past two years, J&K saw a significant expansion in its MBBS seats, along with new medical colleges getting operational. From approximately 1100 seats in the academic year 2023-24 to 1525 in 2025-26, the overall increase of around 425 seats is the best news for the aspirants here.
However, the latest approvals are considerably short of the projected enhancement, underlining J&K’s unaddressed shortfalls of infrastructure and faculty in its institutions of medical education.
In 2018, J&K had only 500 MBBS seats, mostly in its two Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Srinagar and Jammu – SKIMS Medical College and ASCOMS.
In May 2019, NMC approved the intake capacity of 100 per medical college at the newly-established GMC Anantnag and GMC Baramulla.
From thereon, there has been a flurry of seat enhancement, almost every year, majorly in the new medical colleges and partly under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.
The additional seats are in the direction of addressing the healthcare needs amid a growing population and doctor shortages.
In the academic year 2024-25, J&K had a total of about 1185 MBBS seats across all government colleges.
The lone private institution, ASCOMS Jammu had 100 seats.
In September this year, the National Medical Commission (NMC) approved an additional 190 seats in GMCs of J&K, elevating the government tally to 1375.
These increases were distributed across 5 GMCs.
GMC Baramulla, GMC Doda, and GMC Kathua got an additional 50 seats each and 20 seats each were added in the established GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu.
In addition, the NMC gave a nod to 50 new seats for the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) in Katra.
Now, the private sector total is 150, while the overall MBBS seats in J&K have increased from 500 in 2018 to 1525 in 2024.
Despite this major progress, the seat approvals have been far below what J&K authorities sought in the beginning of this year.
The Health and Medical Education Department had been directed to submit applications for approval of 50 seats in each of the nine medical colleges.
An official in the department said that while one of the medical colleges could not apply for seat enhancement due to a “fee submission issue”, all others sought addition as directed.
Citing ongoing infrastructure upgrades and faculty recruitment to meet NMC norms, officials expressed optimism at the time.
However, the NMC granted only 190 seats, a reflection of the deficiencies in the medical colleges.
Earlier in the week, the White Coat ceremony highlighted the positive impact of the approved seats.
The Secretary Health and Medical Education, Syed Abid Raheed Shah, said that it was a major achievement that the intake had increased by 190 and expressed hope that seats would increase by 100 more soon.
“Everyone in the medical colleges has worked hard to get the seat approval,” he said, stressing that enhancement of even one seat was “a matter of hard work”.
However, the hard work seems to have left the NMC unimpressed in some medical colleges where dire faculty shortages and sluggish infrastructure upgrades leave much to be desired, a faculty member at a GMC said.
