More Medical Opportunities in Maharashtra: 692 PG Seats and 150 MBBS Seats

Mumbai: A total of 150 MBBS seats and 692 PG seats are anticipated to be added to the State’s seat matrix, significantly boosting medical education in Maharashtra.

The Union Health Ministry, which informed the Parliament of this, provided confirmation of this. In reality, a representative from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) revealed that while the approval for the other medical colleges was being handled, the Centre had already given its approval to those colleges where the inspection was finished.

According to a recent article in Medical Dialogues, the Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya recently told the Lok Sabha that there are currently 612 medical colleges operating in India with a total admission capacity of 91,927 MBBS seats.

In order to enhance the number of MBBS seats in the nation, 3495 MBBS seats have been approved under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Up-gradation of Existing Government Medical Colleges, according to the information submitted by the Union Health Minister. A total of 150 additional MBBS seats are being added to Maharashtra under this program.

According to the data, 5930 seats (4058 PG medical seats in Phase I and 1872 seats in Phase II) have been approved in 22 States/UTs in 2 Phases under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for “Strengthening and up-grading of State Government medical colleges for starting new PG disciplines and increasing PG seats.” According to the data, 692 PG seats in Maharashtra have been granted by the Centre.

According to data from the previous year, there were 4922 PG medical seats (MD/MS/DM/MCH/Dip) available in Maharashtra, comprising 2786 seats in government medical colleges and 2978 seats in private medical colleges. As a result, with the approval of an additional 692 seats, the State’s total number of PG medical seats will finally surpass 3,000.

According to the Times of India, the State’s medical education administration made an application to the Centre asking for approval to raise enrollment at 15 medical colleges for the academic years 2022–2023. The proposal had been sent based on the infrastructure that was already in place.

A DMER official noted that the State needs to boost the manpower while confirming that the center has approved the increase in seats. He said to TOI, “An increase in postgraduate seats will ensure that we have more doctors with the necessary specializations. Nearly a 25% increase was what we had suggested for colleges that met all requirements. Only once the National Medical Commission has conducted inspections will approvals be granted.”

A parent representative commented on the subject and told the newspaper that “the government should ensure that the information on new seats is disclosed before admissions commence.”