Homoeopathy colleges get one-year relaxation from NCH for faculty hiring

Homoeopathy colleges get one-year relaxation from NCH for faculty hiring

Divyansh.Kumar@timesofindia.com 19.05.2025

The National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) recently granted a much-needed breather to the homoeopathy colleges as they transition from Minimum Essential Standards (MES) Regulations 2024 and move to the upgraded norms under MES 2025. More than 200 homoeopathy colleges in India were struggling after the introduction of MES 2025, under which the colleges had to hire more faculty who were NTET qualified. Besides, they also had to meet a few infrastructural requirements. 

The one-year relaxation offered by the NCH has given the colleges some time to speed up the hiring and infrastructure development process. This will also prevent disruptions in teaching and uninterrupted patient care. The relaxations allow a 10% cut in teaching staff for 100-seat colleges (15% for 60-seat colleges) and a 20% reduction in non-teaching personnel. This is when the NCH allowed 60seat institutions to have an intake of 100 students. At the same time, colleges must double their hospital bed strength from 25 to 50 over five years and maintain nearly all emergency and skilllab equipment. 

Several homoeopathic colleges raised the issue of delays in faculty appointments during India’s shift to mandatory National Teachers’ Eligibility Test (NTET) when it was announced by NCH and the AYUSH Ministry. “Although we have conducted the test and have qualified professionals available, institutions requested additional time to complete the hiring process. The new norms will require raising faculty strength from 28 to 41 (including the principal). This raised the fear that several institutions will be noncompliant and will not be allowed to function in 2025,” Dr Tarkeshwar Jain, president, Medical Assessment and Rating Board of Homoeopathy (MARBH) tells Education Times . Considering the operational troubles, MARBH granted one-year relaxations, ensuring colleges 5/19/25, 10:12 AM  the NCH allowed a 10% faculty relaxation for 100-seat colleges and 15% for 60-seat colleges.“These relaxations give a realistic timeline to colleges to build their human resources and infrastructure. Regulations will boost better clinical and research aptitude in students,” says Dr Subhash Kaushik, director general, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH). 

Institutions must ensure that rising patient loads should be matched with sufficient doctors. “Phased bed expansion helps, yet colleges must synchronise with the increase in beds with faculty growth to support students,” adds Dr Sharma.