Prime Highlights
- NMC chief warns that India’s rapid expansion of medical colleges must not come at the cost of quality, competency or standards.
- Sheth calls for AI-integrated, competency-based medical training, stressing that AI must never replace doctors’ professional judgment or accountability.
Key Facts
- India’s medical colleges have grown from 387 in 2014 to 844 in 2026, more than doubling in over a decade.
- MBBS seats have nearly tripled during the same period, rising from 51,348 to 1,39,489 nationwide.
Background
India must not let quality suffer as it rapidly expands medical education, National Medical Commission (NMC) chairperson Abhijat Sheth said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Indian Chamber of Commerce’s Medical Education Forum in Delhi, Sheth said the country now has over 800 medical colleges. He called this growth a “purposeful national strategy” meant to strengthen the healthcare workforce and fix gaps across regions and communities.
The numbers tell the story. Medical colleges have jumped from 387 in 2014 to 844 in 2026. MBBS seats have nearly tripled too, rising from 51,348 to 1,39,489 over the same period.
But Sheth pushed back against measuring success by numbers alone. Success shouldn’t be measured by the sheer number of doctors India produces, Sheth said, but by their quality. Standards, he stressed, cannot be sacrificed for the sake of growth.
Sheth also addressed AI’s growing role in medicine. AI will help with diagnosis, data analysis and clinical decisions, he said, but it can never replace a doctor’s judgment or accountability. Medical students need to grasp algorithmic bias, data privacy, cybersecurity and the limits of AI tools, he noted. He urged India to build AI systems tailored to its own population and healthcare needs.
Sheth closed by calling for competency-based training, stronger faculty development and simulation-based learning to prepare doctors for medicine’s future.
