The National Medical Commission (NMC) has introduced the Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025, to address the shortage of medical faculty and improve the existing scenario of the medical standards in the country.
It also supports the government’s plan to add 75,000 new medical seats over the next five years.
The regulations announced on July 5, 2025, by the Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) aim to increase undergraduate (MBBS) and postgraduate (MD/MS) seats by making it easier to appoint faculty, including non-medical teachers with MSc/PhD qualifications.
While associations such as the National MSc Medical Teachers' Association (NMMTA) welcome the changes, concerns about the quality of medical education have also been raised by experts.
Let's dive deeper
A recent press release from the NMC underscored that the newly announced regulations represent “a major step towards unlocking the existing human resource potential within government health systems and optimising medical education infrastructure.”
Important changes include:
- Non-teaching government hospitals with 220 or more beds are now eligible to become teaching institutions.
- Specialists with ten years of experience can serve as associate professors, while those with two years can assume the role of assistant professors, without the prerequisite of senior residency, provided...
A press release by the NMC highlighted that the regulations are “a major step towards unlocking the existing human resource potential within government health systems and optimising medical education infrastructure.”
Here are a few other changes:
Non-teaching government hospitals with 220 or more beds are now eligible to become a teaching institution.
- Specialists with 10 years of experience can become associate professors, and those with two years of experience can be assistant professors, without needing senior residency, as long as they complete the Basic Course in Biomedical Research (BCBR) within two years.
- Senior consultants with three years of teaching in recognised government institutions can become professors. Diploma holders with six years of experience in government medical institutions are eligible to qualify as assistant professors. Up to five years of work in NMC, universities, or government medical research counts as teaching experience.
- New government medical colleges can now launch undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the same time, thereby speeding up the process of training doctors.
Postgraduate courses now require only two faculty members and two seats, down from three faculty members and a senior resident. Bed requirements for some specialities have also been lowered.
- More roles are available for MSc/PhD qualified individuals, as they can now teach Microbiology and Pharmacology, in addition to Anatomy, Physiology, and Biochemistry, up to a 30% limit.
These changes are intended to address the shortage of faculty, particularly in underserved regions, and to support the growth of medical education and infrastructure. However, experts remain unconvinced.
A fall in standards, or a positive growth?
Dr Dheeraj Maheshwari, an assistant professor and social media personality known as @autopsy_surgeon on social media platform X, voiced concerns about the regulations.
He noted, “Is the Government of India creating enough jobs for the doctors it is planning to produce?”
Speaking to EdexLive, Dr Maheshwari argued that the focus is on producing more doctors without ensuring quality. “They don’t care about the quality; they only care about the quantity,” he said, also pointing to a recent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case uncovering irregularities in 40 medical colleges.
According to PTI, a network of officials from the Union Health Ministry, the National Medical Commission (NMC), intermediaries, and representatives of private medical colleges were allegedly involved in a range of "egregious" activities.
Emphasising this incident, he said, “Most of the medical colleges, even the previous and new medical colleges, don’t have enough infrastructure, enough faculty members, or enough proper clinical exposure to train students as doctors,” he said, yet he stressed that the focus of the NMC remains misdirected.
Although, the assistant professor says that the criteria for faculty appointments are rational, he highlighted that the faculty qualifications, particularly allowing specialists with just two years of experience to become assistant professors, stating, “Sometimes appointments are made illegally. Although, there are rules in place, some private institutions want just a mere qualification, in order to fill vacancies that otherwise go vacant. This gives rise to a cycle producing more inefficient doctors in the country."
Dr Maheshwari stressed that teaching requires specific skills, noting, “To teach students, you need patience, proper training… How you have to pass on that knowledge is also an art. There can be no loopholes here.”
While new norms and regulations are being introduced to uphold the integrity of the profession, he also stated that there have been no checks and balances to strictly monitor the situation.
Pointing out this, he said, “Corruption is prevalent. There are no proper inspections and checks at all. On top of this, the influence of the rich and the powerful is hollowing the sanctity of the profession.”
When questioned if these reforms were directed at meeting India's healthcare needs and if they would also address challenges in rural areas, the expert stated, "If an MD doctor goes to a town or village, how many patients would he see? And can he charge a fee of Rs 500? People won't be able to afford these doctors, and it would be detrimental for doctors to survive on a salary of Rs 25,000, so why isn't the government bringing about a resolution? Would an increase in medical college seats address this imbalance?" he questioned.
He pointed to limited resources, competition from other practitioners, high setup costs, and risks of violence and corruption as barriers for doctors in rural practice, which remains a subject inadequately addressed.
New norms are a win for non-medical faculty, but issues remain
The NMMTA, in a press release dated July 6, welcomed the restoration of the 30% appointment limit for MSc/PhD faculty in five non-clinical subjects, describing it as a “decisive and inclusive policy change” that corrects the restrictive guidelines outlined in MSR-2020.
Dr Sridhar Rao, a founding member of NMMTA, praised the move, stating, “The appointment of teachers with MSc and PhD qualifications goes back to the 1960s… These non-medical teachers are fully competent and capable because they study the same curriculum that the medical teachers study in their postgraduate course.”
He emphasised that this helps address faculty shortages in newly opened colleges, those in suburban or rural areas, and those located in hilly areas, hence calling it a "win-win" situation.
While medical and non-medical experts hold differing opinions on the matter, India’s doctor-to-population ratio of 1:811 exceeds the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended 1:1000.
However, the NMC’s push to produce more doctors has raised questions about whether its focus is misplaced or if it has the potential to evolve into a model of efficient governance.
