The Union Health Ministry has cut down over 19,000 seats for medical aspirants in 2018-19.
On May 31, the ministry issued a notification prohibiting 82 medical colleges from taking new MBBS applicants for the 2018-19 session. This means that 10,000 medical seats would be cut down during this academic year.
The notification also added that 68 to-be medical colleges will not start this year i.e. 9,000 seats would not be available for aspirants.
The ministry has effectively blocked over 19,000 medical college seats (10,340 + 9,000, to be precise).
MBBS seats available in the country for medical applicants have come down from 64,000 to under 54,000 this year. The exact number of seats reduced, The Telegraph report said was 10,340 seats.
The establishment of the 68 new medical colleges would have added 9,000 more seats for more than 7 lakh students who apply every year, a report published in The Quint said. Thirty-one of these were government-run and 37 were private, News18 reported.
The Centre had earlier approved a plan to set up 68 medical colleges which would be attached to existing district hospitals by 2019. But this was only on paper. It had also approved plans to establish 24 more government-funded medical colleges by 2021-22.
The decision was based on recommendations from the Medical Council of India (MCI), the regulatory authority that decides whether colleges have the infrastructure, faculty, and number of patients required to dispense medical education.