Ahmedabad: Gujarat has 7,150 MBBS seats for 2023-24, the sixth highest among Indian states, according to data shared in Lok Sabha. According to the local admission committee, the state had 4,000 seats in 2018-19, indicating a 78 per cent spike in the number of seats in five years — much higher than the 56 per cent increase recorded nationally for the same period. India has 1.08 lakh MBBS seats for 2023-24, up from 70,012 in 2018-19.
The data was shared by Dr Bharati Pawar, MoS, ministry of health and family welfare, in response to a question from Sushil Kumar Modi.
“Five years ago, Gujarat had 24 medical colleges. Today it has 39 government-run and private sector colleges. The increase in the number of seats has helped local students get better chances at medical education. About a decade ago, several students would go to other states to pursue MBBS and other medical courses,” said an expert associated with the field.
“A majority of the new colleges have been created under Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS).” Two institutions based in Gujarat have 100 per cent national admission quota — AIIMS in Rajkot and Sumandeep Vidyapith in Waghodia which have a cumulative 200 seats. In October last year, the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) decided to provisionally limit undergraduate (UG) seats in each state to one per 10,000 population.
Experts said Gujarat will be hit hard by this rule as three brownfield medical colleges in Botad, Khambhaliya and Veraval are most likely to lie in limbo following NMC’s notification. “The state’s UG medical quota is saturated if one considers the state’s population at 7 crores. Gujarat has added four new medical colleges in the past few years, increasing the number of seats by 600. But with the new rule, chances of further addition seem bleak,” said an expert.
