New Delhi. : The National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved 171 additional postgraduate (PG) medical seats for the academic year 2025–26, aiming to speed up the admission process and prevent delays during counselling. The decision is expected to provide timely relief to medical aspirants and strengthen postgraduate medical education across the country.
The approval follows deliberations by the NMC’s First Appeal Committee, which reviewed appeals filed by medical colleges against earlier decisions of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) under Section 28(5) of the NMC Act, 2019. Meetings of the committee were held on December 22 and 23, after which the additional seats were sanctioned and notified publicly for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Wide Range of Specialties Covered
According to the public notice issued by the NMC, the newly approved seats cover a broad spectrum of clinical and allied disciplines. These include General Medicine, General Surgery, Anaesthesiology, Radiodiagnosis, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, as well as several pre-clinical and para-clinical specialties.
Medical institutions from multiple states and Union Territories—such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh—are among those that have received the additional PG seats.
Counselling Authorities Told Not to Delay Admissions
To ensure faster admissions, the NMC has issued clear instructions to counselling bodies, including the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) and state counselling authorities. The Commission has advised them not to wait for Letters of Permission (LoPs) from institutions before including these newly approved seats in the counselling process.
The public notice clarified that the seat list approved by the First Appeal Committee itself should be treated as a valid document for counselling purposes, with formal LoPs to be issued subsequently.
Official Direction to Medical Colleges
In a communication addressed to heads of medical colleges, Dr Raghav Langer, Secretary of the NMC, stated that the attached list of approved seats must be considered an authoritative reference for counselling. This move is intended to eliminate procedural bottlenecks and ensure that the highly competitive PG admission timeline is not disrupted.
Benefits for Aspirants and Institutions
The updated seat matrix and public notice have been shared with state and Union Territory medical education departments, the MCC, and state counselling authorities to ensure immediate implementation during ongoing and upcoming counselling rounds for 2025–26.
Education experts believe that this step reflects a more flexible and student-centric approach by the NMC, balancing regulatory oversight with practical considerations. By accelerating admissions and expanding seat availability, the decision is expected to benefit thousands of PG medical aspirants while strengthening India’s medical education infrastructure.
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