To increase the faculty pool for medical colleges across the country, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has said that specialists working in non-teaching government healthcare institutes would be eligible to work as faculty members in medical colleges. This covers specialists serving in defence and railway medical facilities, and other government hospitals.
B.N. Gangadhar, Chairman, NMC, told The Hindu that non-teaching consultants, specialists, and medical officers with postgraduate medical degrees, and with two years of experience in a district headquarters government hospital or 220-bed government hospital would be eligible to become an Assistant Professor of that broad specialty. If they had 10 years of similar experience, they would be eligible to become an Associate Professor of that broad specialty, he added.
“Government hospitals also include the railways and defence [facilities], and hospitals under government ministries,’’ Dr. Gangadhar said, adding that the recommendation for their inclusion had already been submitted to the Central government, and was expected to be cleared and implemented soon.
The NMC is a statutory body responsible for regulating medical education, professionals, institutions, and research in the country. Established in September 2020, it replaced the erstwhile Medical Council of India.

The Commission has noted that there is a shortage of teachers in medical colleges across India, particularly in non-clinical subjects, including Anatomy, Physiology, and Biochemistry.
Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda had announced in the Lok Sabha that the number of medical colleges in India had risen from 387 in 2014 to 731, with a significant increase in undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats. Further, there has been an increase of 110% in MBBS seats, from 51,348 before 2014 to 1,07,948 currently, and there has also been an increase of 117% in postgraduate seats, from 31,185 before 2014 to 67,802 now. This has pushed up the demand for teaching staff across medical colleges in India.

The shortage has become more pronounced with new NMC guidelines that have reduced the representation of medical M.Sc. and Ph.D. educators despite the growing demand for faculty to support the expansion of medical colleges. Earlier this year, the National M.Sc. Medical Teachers’ Association (NMMTA) strongly opposed the NMC’s alleged discrimination against medical M.Sc. and Ph.D. educators in non-clinical subjects. “This move has caused disruption in the careers of thousands of qualified educators and worsened the ongoing faculty crisis in India’s medical colleges,” the NMMTA said.
Published – April 29, 2025 06:32 pm IST