With 17 New Medical Colleges, Tamil Nadu Set to Have Maximum Govt MBBS Seats

The Tamil Nadu government has announced the establishment of 17 new medical colleges including government and private, before the commencement of the next academic year. These new colleges will add a total of 2,350 new MBBS seats to the current strength of 10,375 medical seats in the state, reported the Times of India.

Tamil Nadu currently has 37 government colleges with a total of 5125 seats, all of which are affiliated with government hospitals. After adding the 17 new colleges, the state will have 69 medical colleges in total.

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Speaking about the government’s plan, R Narayanababu, director of medical education, said that the state has received a nod for all 11-government colleges that it had applied for. Opening these colleges will add 1450 new seats in the next academic year. “This is the biggest addition to the seat matrix we have made in one year. We also have permission to add 50 more seats to the government Coimbatore medical college,” said Narayanababu.

In 2021, Tamil Nadu had nearly 12 per cent of the government medical seats in India and with this latest addition, the state will provide the highest number of seats under the 15 per cent All India Quota (AIQ). States are supposed to give 15 per cent of their government MBBS seats to the medical counselling committee under the directorate general of health services for online admissions. Admission to the rest 85 per cent of seats is done by the state on the basis of NEET score as per category applied.

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MA Subramaniam, Health Minister, Tamil Nadu said that the government plans to open at least one medical college in each district. The minister added that all UG medical colleges in Tamil Nadu will start PG specialization programmes in the next five years.

Apart from the government colleges, four new self-financing medical colleges, St Peter’s Medical College Hospital and Research Institute in Krishnagiri, Sri Lalithambigai Medical College and Hospital in Chennai, Swamy Vivekanandha Medical College Hospital and Research Institute in Namakkal, and Arunai Medical College and Hospital in Tiruvannamalai will be attached to state N Dr MGR Medical University adding 600 MBBS seats.

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