Soft by name, steely by nature: IAF doc posted in Knp secures NEET PG AIR 2

Soft by name, steely by nature: IAF doc posted in Knp secures NEET PG AIR 2

Arvind.Chauhan@timesofindia.com 28.09.2026

Lucknow: When the NEET PG 2026 results were declared on Sept 24, Sqn Ldr Pallakshi Prasad (28), a medical officer posted at Air Force Station Kanpur, drew widespread praise after securing All India Rank 2. 

Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS) Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja congratulated the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) alumna from the C3 batch, calling the result a proud moment for the Armed Forces Medical Services. 

For Pallakshi, whose name means “soft,” the achievement follows years of regimented preparation alongside demanding military postings. “I always knew I wanted to become a doctor,” she said, crediting her parents’support despite both being engineers. Born in Ranchi and raised in Hyderabad, she studied at Delhi Public School before clearing NEET UG 2016 with an All India Rank of 1,312 without taking a drop year. With limited options due to home-state admission rules, she applied to AFMC at her mother’s urging. Her mother, Shyamlee Prasad, is a practice head at Infosys. 

Pallakshi entered AFMC after securing girls’ merit rank 3 and later graduated sixth in overall merit in her batch. “I fell in love with the AFMC campus and everything it stood for. By the time I graduated, I didn’t feel like an outsider to the uniform anymore. Taking permanent commission was a natural decision,” she said. Commissioned into the Indian Navy on May 15, 2021, she served for nearly two and a half years as a medical officer on a warship before moving to the Indian Air Force in 2025.

High medical education fee a major hurdle for students

High medical education fee a major hurdle for students 

26.09.2026

For Heer Nai, the choice was between a medical seat and an affordable alternative. “She secured a seat at NHL Municipal Medical College but did not want to pursue medicine at a private college where the annual fee could have been around Rs 24 lakh. She has instead opted for Pharm D at LM Pharmacy, where the annual fee is about Rs 2 lakh,” said Yagnesh, Heer’s father. 

“NEET score is good, but there has to be a budget for medical education. We cannot afford it.” Others are holding on for the third round. Deven Yatri, who secured a seat at SMIMER with a NEET score of 335, is hoping for an upgrade because a fee of around Rs 24 lakh a year for management-quota seats in Surat is unaffordable. Hitanshi Kalyani, who scored 322 in NEET in the open category, also did not confirm her seat at Kalol Medical College, after being offered a management-quota option costing more than Rs 24 lakh a year. 

“I run a scrap business. My daughter plans to add more general-quota options in the third round as the fees are not affordable,” said Ram Prakash Kalyani, her father. Some students also cited the long duration of medical education. For some families, these factors add to the financial pressure of choosing medicine.

771 Gujarat MBBS-BDS allottees skip seats over fees

 771 Gujarat MBBS-BDS allottees skip seats over fees 

Many Eye Cheaper Alternatives Or Better Allotments 

Bharat.Yagnik@timesofindia.com 26.09.2026

Ahmedabad: For Meman Mohammad Shaikh, a resident of Salad village in Vadodara district, a confirmed admission at a private medical college came with a hefty price tag which his family could ill afford. The open-category candidate secured admission at Parul University, but the annual fee of about Rs 10 lakh made him abandon his long-held dream to study medicine. 

“My family cannot afford paying such exorbitant fees. I am now looking at a BHMS or BAMS course at another institute, where the annual fees of around Rs 2 lakh fit our budget,” said Meman, whose father runs a saree shop in Salad near Vadodara. 

“I have secured a government scholarship of about Rs 2 lakh and expect another Rs 2 lakh as financial assistance from my community. Despite this, my family will have to bear Rs 6 lakh for the first year itself and then Rs 10 lakh subsequently every year if I pursue the medical course,” he explains. 

Meman is among 771 students who were allotted MBBS or BDS seats in the first two rounds of Gujarat’s UG medical and dental counselling but have failed to confirm their admissions, according to data from the state Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses (ACPUGMEC). 

“Students leaving confirmed seats in MBBS and BDS courses in such high numbers is unprecedented,” said a senior member of the medical admission committee. High fees have emerged as a key concern among students who are weighing whether to accept their allotted seats or wait for the next round, officials said. 

Several students said they were considering dental, pharmacy, Ayurveda and homeopathy courses where the fee burden is lower. Uday Karavadra, who scored 421 in NEET and was allotted a seat at SAL Medical College, Ahmedabad, also declined admission in MBBS. 

“The annual fee of Rs 11.68 lakh would have taken the five-year cost to nearly Rs 55 lakh. My father is a farmer and under no circumstances can we afford such a high fee,” he said. Karavadra is now considering studying Ayurveda.  

Representational pic High fees have emerged as a key concern among students who are weighing whether to accept their allotted seats or wait for the next round

NEET-PG: Only 114 cross 600 mark

NEET-PG: Only 114 cross 600 mark 

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesofindia.com 26.09.2026

New Delhi: Only 114 candidates scored 600 or more out of 720 in NEET-PG 2026, with the highest score at 641. A score of 601 was enough to secure a place in the top 100, according to the detailed result data released by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences. 

The top three ranks went to candidates scoring 641, 633 and 626, while four candidates at ranks 4 to 7 scored 625 each. The number of candidates rose sharply as the score cut-off fell. 

As many as 2,614 candidates scored 550 or more, while 12,111 scored 500 or above. The number rose to 29,130 for 450 or more and 51,729 for scores of 400 or above. The score-to-rank gap widened sharply at lower scores. 

A score of 570 corresponded to rank 1,000, 532 to rank 5,000, 508 to rank 10,000 and 403 to rank 50,000. The scores are not directly comparable with last year’s results, as NEET-PG 2025 was scored out of 800, compared with 720 this year. The detailed result also showed 194 candidates with scores below zero. The median score was 262, while the mean was 274.4 among records carrying numerical scores. The detailed result contain 2,73,096 records, including 7,136 candidates marked absent and one result withheld.

NEET-PG 2026 result out: 2.6L candidates get ranks

 NEET-PG 2026 result out: 2.6L candidates get ranks

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesofindia.com 25.09.2026

New Delhi: National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on Thursday declared NEET-PG 2026 result, with 2,65,960 candidates having appeared in the exam held in two phases this year.

The result includes candidates’ raw scores and overall NEET-PG ranks. The qualifying percentile criteria remain unchanged from last year.

For General and EWS categories, qualifying level was 50th percentile, with cut-off score at 262 marks out of 720 this year. 

It was 45th percentile and 244 marks for General Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD), and 40th percentile and 226 marks for SC, ST and OBC candidates, including PwBD candidates from these categories.

Scorecards can be downloaded from NBEMS website on or after Oct 1 and will be available for six months. The answer key will also be published on or after Oct 1.

Court: Medical boards can’t reassess certified disability

Court: Medical boards can’t reassess certified disability 

Ritika Singh Sisodiyatnn 24.09.2026

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench has held that the percentage of disability recorded in a valid disability certificate issued by a competent authority cannot be reassessed or altered by a medical assessment board constituted by National Medical Commission (NMC). 

The court clarified that the role of medical assessment board is limited to determining whether a candidate is capable of completing the MBBS course with reasonable accommodation and assistive devices and does not extend to re-determining the percentage of disability certified by the competent authority. 

A bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary, while deciding three petitions filed by Shubham Mishra, Saurabh Rana and Gulfam Ahmed together, quashed the findings of the Medical Assessment Board and the Appellate Medical PwBD Assessment Board, which had declared the candidates ineligible for reservation under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category. 

The court directed authorities to include the three candidates as eligible PwBD candidates in the remaining NEET-UG 2026 counselling and consider them for seat allocation in accordance with their PwBD All India Rank and the applicable counselling rules. 

Mishra was issued a certificate showing 45% permanent disability by the CMO, Sultanpur. He was issued the disability certificate and UDID card on account of a chronic neurological condition (Bell’s palsy). He secured PwBD All India Rank 948 in NEET-UG 2026. However, the board, in its certificate dated Aug 11, reduced his disability from 45% to 20% and declared him ineligible for PwBD reservation. 

The Appellate Medical Board also found him ineligible under the PwBD category on Aug 21. The HC held that both boards had exceeded their jurisdiction by reassessing the percentage of disability.

3 fake freedom-fighter certificates put 300+ MBBS admissions under lens

3 fake freedom-fighter certificates put 300+ MBBS admissions under lens

Shivani.Azad@timesofindia.com  20.09.2026

Dehradun: Detection of three aspirants who allegedly submitted identical freedom-fighter credentials of their ancestors for MBBS admissions in govt colleges has prompted Uttarakhand to put its third round of NEET-UG counselling on hold. 

The issue has also prompted the authorities to verify documents afresh for nearly 350 past and existing MBBS students after mediaperson Pradeep Bahuguna furnished a list of students to health minister Subodh Uniyal, alleging that some may have used fake permanent residence and freedom-fighter dependent documents. 

While clarifying that he does not claim all certificates on the list are fake, Bahuguna alleged that available records raise strong suspicions. Meanwhile, officials of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Medical Education University announced on Saturday that the pause will allow for the verification of documents for all students admitted in the first and second rounds who availed benefits under any category or sub-category. 

The admissions of the three candidates were cancelled after Dehradun district magistrate rejected their freedom-fighter dependent certificates. A seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) is at present probing the fraudulent documents, and district magistrates across the state have been alerted regarding potential irregularities involving freedom-fighter, caste, domicile and EWS quota certificates.

Docs slam interview process for DME post

Docs slam interview process for DME post 

20.09.2026

Chennai: Admissions to UG medical and allied health studies are underway, and courses are now commencing at govt medical colleges across the state, but still the post of director of medical education, who holds administrative control of all medical colleges, has been lying vacant since July 31. 

While officials say selection is in progress, doctors ‘ bodies such as the Service Doctors and Postgraduate Doctors’Association, have objected to the health department’s interview-based process for selecting the next director. The association says the mandatory promotion panel was not published before the exercise. In a press release, the association general secretary Dr A Ramalingam said 10 medical college deans were interviewed for the post, which fell vacant after former DME Dr Suganthy Rajakumari retired in July. 

“Appointments in the department were usually made by preparing a promotion panel every year, based on the eligibility and seniority of doctors as on March 15. The panel would then be used to grant promotions and make appointments to senior administrative posts,” he said. The association urged the state govt to appoint an eligible senior doctor as DME on the basis of promotion panel. It also demanded that promotions to professor and associate professor posts be completed annually without delay. TNN

Tamil Nadu set to get back 40 vacant super speciality seats

Tamil Nadu set to get back 40 vacant super speciality seats

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI. 19.09.2026

After surrendering 151 unfilled super speciality seats for the second round of All India Quota counselling, Tamil Nadu is set to get 40 of them back. Nearly 100 in-service candidates are waiting for these seats and new applications are expected to be invited soon as the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the qualifying score for NEET-Super Speciality is being lowered from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.

The State had to surrender the unfilled seats meant for Tamil Nadu’s in-service candidates in line with a Supreme Court direction. Now, 40 of these seats that remained vacant after round two of All India Quota counselling are being reverted to the State.

Fresh applications

Officials said there are around 100 eligible candidates, but they would have to call for applications again after receiving the court orders. The application window will depend on the duration stipulated by the court.

M. Akilan, State secretary, Tamil Nadu Medical Officers’ Association (TNMOA), said in a statement that after the Supreme Court ordered on May 29 that the vacant in-service super speciality seats be surrendered to the All India pool, it filed an independent fresh writ petition before the court, representing the rights and interests of in-service doctors in super speciality education.

The court later directed that the vacant seats be surrendered to the All India pool and if the qualifying cut-off was reduced in subsequent rounds of counselling, 50% of the remaining unfilled Tamil Nadu seats should be reverted to the State.

TNMOA said it continued its legal efforts and subsequently filed another Interlocutory Application seeking the full reversion of the remaining unfilled Tamil Nadu in-service seats to the State. At the hearing on Thursday, the Medical Counselling Committee informed the court that the NEET-SS qualifying percentile would be reduced to the 30th percentile. All remaining unfilled in-service seats would be reverted to the State.

Dr. Akilan said that 111 candidates were already waiting and that new applicants would come in. Last year, Tamil Nadu surrendered 145 seats to the All India Quota and 39 were reverted.

Doctor away in court, driver prescribes meds

Doctor away in court, driver prescribes meds 

Faiz.Siddiqui@timesofindia.com 18.09.2026

Kanpur: The driver of a doctor allegedly prescribed medicines to patients at a govt hospital in Kanpur while the emergency medical officer was at a court hearing. After a video of the driver acting as Dr Ramkesh’s proxy went viral Wednesday, the health department took cognisance of the matter and sought an explanation from the doctor.

Ramkesh later admitted that the person seen writing the prescriptions in the video was his driver. He told hospital authorities that he had fired the driver for acting arbitrarily. The video showed the driver seated in the OPD of Kanshiram Hospital, calling patients, asking about their illnesses and writing prescriptions on slips of paper. 

He allegedly told patients the medicines were unavailable at the hospital and had to be purchased outside. The development took place Monday when the doctor had been summoned to court in a case. As the video started circulating on social media, Kanshiram Hospital’s chief medical superintendent, Piyush Mishra, said he had sought a clarification from Ramkesh, adding action would be taken based on the response. He warned that if any outsider was found prescribing medicines in the hospital or OPD, action would be taken and an FIR would also be registered against the doctor concerned

Can MBBS student be given one grace mark? HC to medical univ chancellor

Can MBBS student be given one grace mark? HC to medical univ chancellor

14.09.2026

Bhopal/Jabalpur: MP high court has asked the chancellor of state-run MP Medical Science University based in Jabalpur to apprise the court whether he has an extraordinary power to grant one grace mark to a student according to the statute of the university. 

The student of the varsity-affiliated Gajra Raja Medical College in Gwalior had requested the court to intervene and help him get one grace mark in the MBBS first year exam so that he doesn’t have to lose a year. On Sept 8, the division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice A K Singh asked additional advocate general Jahanvi Pandit to find out from the chancellor of the MP Medical Science University as to whether there is any provision for granting one grace mark to the petitioner “to save a year of an otherwise bright medical student“. 

The petitioner, Ramnaresh Kushwah, contended that he failed the first year MBBS exam by just one mark. He is regularly attending the second-year classes but may not be allowed to appear in the exam because of a deficiency of one mark in the first-year exam. He said the chancellor of the university has an extraordinary jurisdiction under clause 32 of the Madhya Pradesh Universities Common Ordinance No 6 to grant grace marks in cases of such extraordinary hardships. The court has placed the case among 10 top cases for hearing on Sept 15

NMC adds over 13K MBBS seats, total intake tops 1.4 lakh

NMC adds over 13K MBBS seats, total intake tops 1.4 lakh

 Anuja.Jaiswal@timesofindia.com 12.09.2026

New Delhi: National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved 13,186 additional MBBS seats for the 2026-27 academic year, taking the total approved undergraduate medical intake to 1,40,214 seats across 836 medical colleges, excluding seats in Institutes of National Importance (INIs). 

The updated seat matrix, as on Sept 1, incorporates permissions for new medical colleges and increases in the annual intake of existing colleges. The expansion comes as NEET-UG counselling for the 2026-27 MBBS batch is underway, with the counselling schedule pushing back the start of the academic session and subsequent rounds, including the stray vacancy round, expected to continue into Oct. 

The increase is heavily driven by the private sector, which accounts for 10,400 of the 13,186 additional seats, or nearly 79%, while govt medical colleges have added 2,786 seats. The total intake has risen from 1,27,028 renewed seats to 1,40,214, an increase of about 10.4%. 

Karnataka has recorded the highest increase with 1,650 additional seats; followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,250; Bihar with 1,240; UP with 1,200 and Rajasthan with 1,100. Telangana has added 1,010 seats and West Bengal 975. 

Karnataka’s total MBBS intake now stands at 15,745 seats, including 4,600 in govt colleges and 11,145 in private colleges. Tamil Nadu has 14,299 seats, Uttar Pradesh 14,400 and Maharashtra 13,249. The addition of 13,186 seats will widen the pool of MBBS seats available during the 2026-27 admission cycle, although the actual allocation of these seats will depend on the ongoing counselling process. Among other major increases, Andhra Pradesh has added 525 seats, MP and Jharkhand 520 each, Maharashtra 550, Haryana 350, Kerala 300, Gujarat 250, Puducherry and Uttarakhand 200 each, and Jammu & Kashmir 175. 

The NMC matrix shows zero increase in Delhi, while Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have also recorded no additional seats. The NMC has made it clear that admissions must be restricted to the number of seats approved in the matrix

Newborn infected with Cov in womb, saved at city hosp

Newborn infected with Cov in womb, saved at city hosp

Prithvijit.Mitra@timesofindia.com 07.09.2026

Kolkata: The pandemic may have ended four years ago, but coronavirus continues to throw up an occasional scare. Last week, a newborn, who contracted the virus in her mother’s womb, was saved from the jaws of death at a city pvt hospital. Numerous such cases were reported during the height of the pandemic between 2020 and 2022. 

While the baby had life-threatening symptoms, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in neonates (MIS-N) ‘associated with peri-natal SARS Covid infection’ and sepsis leading to severe breathing distress, irregular heart beats and fluctuating blood pressure, her mother had no symptoms that prevented doctors from suspecting Covid. The infant had to be put on ventilation but was eventually diagnosed and saved by using Gamma Globulin, a blood protein that acts as antibodies against viruses and bacteria. Born on Aug 24 at Belle Vue Clinic to Arpita Santra, the baby girl developed a severe breathing distress soon after birth. Symptoms started multiplying and she was soon found to have sepsis, which is an extremely toxic response of the body to an infection. But doctors could not gauge the trigger. The newborn was first put on oxygen and as her condition worsened, she was shifted to ventilation. 

“We decided to conduct a pro-BNP test to help gauge the infection. It detected MIS-N and sepsis which pointed at Covid. Both conditions were life-threatening and the symptoms were getting severe by the hour. But since the Covid test result could not be obtained before five days, we decided to go ahead with treatment,” said paediatrician Santanu Ray, who led the treatment at Belle Vue. A high pro-BNP test result indicates that the heart muscles are stretched, overworked or under extra pressure. When the heart chambers experience increased volume or pressure, they release this protein into the bloodstream to help regulate fluid balance and blood pressure. “MIS-N has a mortality rate of 50%. Since her other parameters were deteriorating fast, we had to be quick. While MIS-N increases the risk of a heart failure, she also had sepsis. We decided to administer Gamma protein which is an effective method to counter severe infection and its symptoms,” added Ray. It helped counter the symptoms and put the baby on a recovery path. “By the time Covid was confirmed on the fifth day, she had started showing signs of improvement. While the worst period was over, she was kept under screening for several more days till she could be weaned out of oxygen support completely,” said Ray

Four attempts for MBBS cover supplementary exams: court

Four attempts for MBBS cover supplementary exams: court

The Hindu Bureau

KOCHI. 31.08.2026

Both regular and supplementary examinations count towards the “four attempts within four years” rule for clearing the First Professional MBBS Degree examination, the Kerala High Court recently held.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas found that a candidate could avail of only four attempts, whether regular or supplementary exams, and no further opportunity could be granted once those attempts had been exhausted. This was evident from the Graduate Medical Education Regulation, 2023, and the guidelines prescribed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), the court stated.

The court said regulations framed by academic bodies should not be subjected to casual judicial interference, especially when the issue concerned medical students, whose competence affects public health and safety.

The petitioner, a first-year medical student from Kollam, contended that the four attempts prescribed in the rules must be interpreted as regular exams and should not include supplementary exams. She had not cleared the course, having failed in three subjects and used up all four attempts.

She had sought directions to write the next First Professional MBBS Degree examination, either as a mercy chance or as a chance available to her within the four years.

The State government, Kerala University of Health Sciences, UGC, and NMC opposed granting any leniency based on the regulations.

Petitioner in Kerala had contended that the four attempts prescribed in rules must be interpreted as regular exams

Colleges pitch MBBS seats before counselling

Colleges pitch MBBS seats before counselling 

27.08.2026

Chennai: “Round 2 is your next chance. Pre-book your MBBS seat,” flashes a social media advertisement, replete with a phone number—a pitch that aims to circumvent the regulated medical-admissions process. Several private medical institutions hold discreet on-campus consultations, offering scholarships, fee discounts and other incentives, parents say. 

Candidates are asked to enter their names in a register and lock choices only for medical colleges affiliated with the university in the upcoming counselling round. “We were told we can try other colleges in the third or subsequent rounds if we don’t make it this time,” said R Elangovan, whose nephew is seeking admission this year. 

Now, institutions like Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Institute of Research and Technology have made the practice public through social media advertisements. When TOI called the number on their Instagram ad, someone from the “admissions department” of Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Institute of Medical Sciences and Hospital said admission could be secured in one of two medical colleges under the university—at Perambalur or Samayapuram. “Bring your NEET admit card and scorecard to the college for further discussion,” he said. 

Medical college dean Dr V Visvanathan, however, said the advertisements had been issued by consultants hired by the management. “You can’t pre-book seats. Admissions to our colleges are done by the central counselling committee,” he said. National Medical Commission chairman Dr Abhijat Chandrakant Sheth earlier told TOI that it was illegal for any institution to solicit or admit students directly. 

Under NMC rules, UG admissions must be conducted through central or state counselling authorities in a singlewindow online process. Admissions done outside this process would be cancelled with action initiated against the institution, he said. Experts demanded action against misleading advertisements. “They could create the impression that seats can be secured outside the merit-based system,” said student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam. “Desperate parents and first-time applicants may not know the rules.” Times News Network

Issue circular on duties of doctors acting as witnesses: HC

Issue circular on duties of doctors acting as witnesses: HC

The medical professionals appearing as expert witnesses must exercise a high degree of care, said the court.

The Hindu Bureau

MADURAI. 20.08.2026

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Health Secretary and the Director of Medical Education and Research to issue a circular/guidelines comprehensively dealing with duties and responsibilities of government medical professionals while acting as expert witnesses before courts.

Justice B. Pugalendhi said the privilege of assisting the court carried with it a corresponding responsibility to provide objective, accurate and consistent testimony. Even an inadvertent lapse by the medical expert while testifying created confusion, prolonged judicial proceedings and affected the rights of either the victim or the accused.

Therefore, the medical professionals appearing before courts as expert witnesses must exercise a high degree of care. Equally important was the duty to carefully read and verify the deposition before affixing their signature, the court said.

The duty to assist the court was an integral part of their professional obligations. It was not a matter of discretion or favour, but a statutory and professional duty, it said.

The court directed that the comprehensive circular/guidelines be issued to all government medical colleges, government hospitals, district headquarters hospitals, primary health centres and other government health care institutions.

It said the instructions should include the ethical standards expected of every expert witness.

It was necessary to ensure that Accident Registers, Wound Certificates, Medico-Legal Reports and all other medico-legal records accurately recorded the clinical findings and professional opinion formed at the time of examination in a legible and unambiguous manner.

Such records might be generated in a typed or computer-generated format for easy comprehension by investigating agencies, prosecutors, defence counsel and courts.

There was a necessity to prepare revised proforma for Medico-Legal Examination of Survivors/ Victims of Sexual Violence, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in cases involving sexual violence, including POCSO Act cases. The medical professionals should familiarise themselves with relevant medical records before entering witness box and depose.

The court stressed the need to understand every question during examination and cross-examination; to seek clarification before answering if there was ambiguity; to carefully read and verify the deposition before signing it; and to immediately bring to the notice of the court any omission or inadvertent error noticed therein.

The efficacy of the justice delivery system depended, to a considerable extent, upon the credibility of expert evidence. It was, therefore, imperative that every medical professional entrusted with this responsibility discharged it with the highest standards of competence, objectivity and professional integrity, the court said.

NMC proposes single licence for doctors to practise across India

NMC proposes single licence for doctors to practise across India

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI. 20.08.2026

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has proposed a registration system under which a medical practitioner, once registered with a State Medical Council and allotted a Unique Identification (UID) number in the National Medical Register, would be eligible to practise across India without obtaining fresh registration or a licence in another State.

The proposal is part of the draft Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, notified by the NMC on August 11. The NMC has invited objections and suggestions for 30 days from the date of notification. Under the proposed system, the State Medical Council would continue to scrutinise applications and grant registration and the licence for doctors to practise, but the approval would be reflected in both the State Medical Register and the National Medical Register.

NMC plans to tighten norms to make MBBS colleges fully ready before admissions

NMC plans to tighten norms to make MBBS colleges fully ready before admissions 

EDUCATION TIMES 06.08.2026

Regulations require complete academic and teaching hospital facilities before permissions are granted, abolishing the State-issued Essentiality Certificate

 Divyansh Kumar | Posted August 03, 2026 01:00 PM

First-year MBBS students may no longer have to study in colleges with half-built anatomy halls, under-equipped labs, or temporary teaching hospitals. To strengthen the quality of medical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has proposed draft amendments that would require aspiring medical colleges to complete all academic and hospital infrastructure before applying for regulatory approval, effectively ending the practice of admitting students while facilities are still under construction.

Medical educators have welcomed the proposed ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to incomplete infrastructure, saying it could substantially improve the learning experience from the very first day of medical training. However, questions remain over whether the reforms could slow down the expansion of medical colleges and lead to a greater concentration of institutions in urban centres.

The proposed draft amendments to the Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses & Assessment & Rating Regulations, 2023 represent one of the most significant overhauls of the approval framework since the NMC replaced the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI). Besides mandating 100% infrastructure readiness, the draft proposes abolishing the State-issued Essentiality Certificate, introducing a mandatory institutional corpus fund, requiring solvency certificates verified by CAs, expanding the list of eligible applicants, and prescribing stricter penalties for incomplete applications or attempts to influence the approval process.

Explaining the rationale behind the changes, an NMC official tells Education Times that the objective is to make the approval mechanism more objective, transparent and quality-oriented. “The amendments are intended to further strengthen the regulatory framework for establishment of new medical colleges by making the approval process more objective, transparent and quality-oriented. The emphasis is on ensuring that essential infrastructure and institutional readiness are in place before applications are considered, thereby reducing avoidable deficiencies and facilitating a more efficient assessment process,” the official says.

Infrastructure Gap

For faculty members, the proposal directly addresses a longstanding concern that students often bear the consequences of infrastructure deficiencies during the crucial first year of training. “The first year lays the foundation for the entire medical career as students require well-equipped anatomy dissection halls, physiology and biochemistry laboratories, libraries, skills laboratories and digital learning facilities from the very first day,” says Dr Roy R Chandran, professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Government Medical College, Kozhikode. He adds that when infrastructure is incomplete, practical teaching suffers, faculty spend valuable time overcoming logistical challenges instead of focusing on academics, and students lose confidence in the quality of their training.

Welcoming the proposal to prohibit temporary hospital arrangements during inspections, stressing that medical education is fundamentally patient-centred, Dr Chandran says, “A teaching hospital develops its academic culture over time. It has established departments, multidisciplinary teams, standard treatment protocols, adequate patient load and regular academic activities. Temporary hospitals created merely to satisfy inspection requirements cannot replicate this environment. If we expect to produce competent doctors, the teaching hospital must be fully functional from the very beginning, not just on the day of inspection.”

State Stake

One of the most debated proposals remains the abolition of the State-issued Essentiality Certificate, a mandate that historically allowed state governments to assess the requirement of a new medical college in a particular region. While the NMC argues that removing the certificate will simplify approvals, experts caution that it could encourage private investment to concentrate in already developed urban markets. “Dispensing with the Essentiality Certificate is intended to simplify the regulatory process while retaining the Commission’s focus on academic, clinical and infrastructural standards,” says the NMC official.

Clinical learning depends on adequate patient exposure, and if more medical colleges are clustered in the same city, they compete for the same patient population. “This can reduce the diversity and volume of clinical cases available to each student. Expansion should be guided by regional healthcare needs rather than simply increasing the number of colleges, rather than adding that strengthening existing government hospitals may often deliver greater benefits than opening new institutions,” adds Dr Chandran.

NMC draft amendment scraps essentiality certificate requirement for setting up new medical colleges

NMC draft amendment scraps essentiality certificate requirement for setting up new medical colleges 

Written By : Barsha Misra Published On 4 Aug 2026 4:30 PM | Updated On 4 Aug 2026 4:30 PM

New Delhi: Under the new amendment introduced to the Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses and Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023, approval from the State government may no longer be required for setting up new medical colleges.

While earlier, obtaining an essentiality certificate from the State was mandatory for setting up a new medical college, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has removed this requirement under the proposed Establishment of New Medical Institutions Assessment & Rating (Amendment) Regulations, 2026.

According to the proposed amendment, a Consent of Affiliation (CoA) letter obtained from a recognized university, issued in the name of the applicant/ the Medical College/ the entity in writing, is required.

Also Read: NMC draft amendment bars approval for new medical colleges, courses, seat hike without complete infrastructure

Under the 2023 regulations, Clause 9 specifies the documents that the applicant medical college needs to submit to the Commission. Previously, the following documents were required:

a. Essentiality Certificate (EC) issued by the concerned State Government or Union Territory administration or the appropriate authority as the case may be unless otherwise specified. The EC shall be valid at the time of application; and

b. A Consent of Affiliation (CoA) letter obtained from a recognized university, issued in the name of the applicant entity in writing. The CoA shall be valid at the time of application; and

c. Documentary proof indicating the establishment of a corpus fund by the entity dedicatedly applicable to functioning of the new medical institution year after year; and

d. A solvency certificate issued by a Chartered Accountant within ninety days prior to the last date of submission of the application as mandated by the Notification issued by the MARB; and

e. Documents by way of proof that such reasonable area of land is either owned or arranged under lease or such other arrangement by the eligible entity; and

f. Capabilities with regard to the provision of required basic infrastructure, administrative and financial support of the applicant, if the eligible entity is other than Central or a State Government or Union Territory administration; and

g. Documentary proof of owning or running a hospital of required capacity as indicated in the MSRs.

h. Proof indicating remittance of prescribed application fee and bank guarantee; and

i. Any such other documents are to be notified from time to time by the MARB.

NMC has proposed to remove clause 9 (a)- therefore removing the need for an essentiality certificate. Modifying clause 9 (b), the Commission has proposed that a Consent of Affiliation (CoA) letter obtained from a recognized university, issued in the name of the applicant/ the Medical College/ the entity in writing, will be required.

Clause 9 (c) has also been deleted- therefore the documentary proof indicating the establishment of corpus fund by the entity dedicatedly applicable to the functioning of the new medical institution year after year may also no longer be required.

The Commission has further proposed that Clause 9(d) shall be amended as: A solvency certificate based on the last completed financial year issued by a Chartered Accountant within ninety days prior to the last date of invitation of the application.

It added that (9) Clause 9 (k) shall be inserted as:" Infrastructure and other statutory requirements as per the regulations shall be complete at the time of application. Temporary arrangement for the Hospital and college building shall not be permitted. A work-in-progress status of the applicant institute shall not be considered for further processing of the application."

NEET-PG aspirants to face Aadhaar checks Candidates To Get Test City Details 3 Wks In Advance

NEET-PG aspirants to face Aadhaar checks Candidates To Get Test City Details 3 Wks In Advance 

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesofindia.com  02.08.2026

New Delhi: More than 2.73 lakh medical graduates have registered for NEET-PG 2026, an increase of over 12.5% over last year, as National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences rolls out enhanced authentication measures and candidate-friendly initiatives for the Aug-30 examination.

Candidates will undergo Aadhaar-based authentication during registration and on the examination day, while iris-based biometric verification will be used wherever fingerprint authentication is unsuccessful. They will also have to indicate three preferred states for allotment of examination centres, with their correspondence state as the mandatory first preference. 

Test city information will be issued nearly three weeks before the examination, enabling candidates to plan travel and accommodation in advance. Examination will comprise 180 questions that have to be answered in 210 minutes, giving candidates more time per question while retaining the overall duration of examination. 

Union health minister J P Nadda reviewed preparations for the examination on Saturday and directed officials to ensure its smooth, transparent and technology-enabled conduct while maintaining the highest standards of security and integrity. He also urged candidates not to fall prey to rumours or fraudulent claims regarding question paper leaks, saying the final paper is selected through a highly encrypted, time-bound process shortly before the examination, making any claim of prior access entirely false. 

Officials said examination will be conducted under a multi-layered security framework, which includes CCTV surveillance, biometric authentication, candidate frisking, signal jammers, dynamic computer allocation, live monitoring through central and regional command centres, and independent observers. 

More than 60,000 examination personnel will be deployed to oversee the examination. The end-to-end question paper preparation and delivery process has been reinforced through multiple layers of encryption, secure offline preparation, time-bound finalisation of paper shortly before the examination and controlled digital decryption at the scheduled commencement of the test.