Medical college boom raises concerns over faculty shortage and training standards

Medicine is a highly regarded profession in India, perhaps because of their life-saving role. This respect has also made medical education one of the most sought-after career paths in the country.
According to government data, India today hosts one of the largest numbers of medical colleges in the world. The number has increased from 387 in 2013–14 to 808 in 2025–26. During the same period, undergraduate (UG) medical seats have risen from a little over 51,000 to over a lakh, while postgraduate (PG) seats have increased from some 31,000 to around 76,000.

Yet the demand continues to far exceed the available seats. According to a parliamentary committee report in 2024, every year around two million students aspire to pursue undergraduate medical education, but only about one in twenty secures a seat. A similar gap exists at the postgraduate level, where the number of available seats remains far lower than the demand. Meanwhile, much of this expansion, driven by both government and private players, including the push by the Centre and the states to establish at least one medical college in every district, is aimed at addressing the demand–supply gap in medical education and the healthcare workforce. However, it has also had ripple effects on the quality of medical education, with faculty shortages and inadequate infrastructure emerging as key concerns.


According to Shivkumar Utture, Chairman of the Indian Medical Association – Medical Students Network and former president of the Maharashtra Medical Council, the shortage of teaching faculty is one of the biggest challenges facing medical education in India. Referring to a parliamentary assessment of medical colleges in 2022–23, which studied around half of the medical colleges as a sample and found that none had adequate faculty members or senior residents and that all failed to meet the 50% attendance requirement, he said the faculty crunch is widespread across institutions.

When asked about the reasons behind the teaching faculty crunch, citing a parliamentary report that highlighted a shortage of qualified faculty members and a lack of inclination among doctors to teach at the college level, Dr. Utture said the lack of inclination in teaching is largely due to structural factors. He explained that the remuneration offered for positions such as professor, associate professor, and assistant professor, which varies across states, is often lower than what doctors can earn through private practice. He added that another major deterrent is that teaching faculty in medical colleges are not allowed to engage in private practice.


Without addressing faculty shortages and infrastructure gaps, Dr. Utture warned, the expansion of medical colleges could come at the cost of training quality which, he said, is perhaps unfortunately what is happening at present. “In medicine, unlike many other professions, one plus one is never simply two. Even two patients with similar symptoms may require different diagnoses and treatment. Having poorly trained doctors can come at a fatal cost,” he said.