Srinagar, Aug 07 (KNO): Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 1,238 Post-Graduate (PG) medical seats for the academic year 2026-27, including 1,175 seats in government institutions and 63 seats in private institutions, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The details were provided by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda in response to Starred Question No. 297, raised by Kumari Sudha R, seeking details of PG medical seats in Central Government institutions, State Government colleges and deemed universities, seats created since 2014, proposals to increase PG seats, conversion of Diploma seats into full-fledged PG medical seats and measures to regulate fees charged by private medical colleges and deemed universities.
As per the State/UT-wise data for academic year 2026-27, accessed by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Jammu and Kashmir has 1,175 government PG seats and 63 private PG seats, taking the total to 1,238 seats.
For the Union Territory of Ladakh, the government said there are 14 PG medical seats, all in the government sector, while no private PG seats have been listed.
Across the country, the National Medical Commission (NMC) and National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) have informed that there are 86,360 PG medical seats. The year-wise details of PG seats approved by NMC and NBEMS since 2014-15 have also been provided in the reply.
The government said the National Medical Commission has put in place a regulatory framework under the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER), 2023 and Post Graduate Minimum Standards Requirement, 2024 for establishing new PG medical courses and increasing seats in existing courses.
Proposals from medical colleges and institutions for starting new PG courses or increasing existing seats are considered by the NMC based on applications submitted by institutions, with seats granted subject to prescribed requirements relating to faculty, infrastructure, clinical material and other requirements.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences has also taken several initiatives to increase the availability of PG medical seats, including easing accreditation criteria without compromising teaching and training quality, introducing new PG courses, implementing the Joint Accreditation Scheme, encouraging district hospitals to seek accreditation for NBEMS PG courses and undertaking outreach with State Governments, PSUs, ESIC and other stakeholders.
The Centre has also approved Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for strengthening and upgrading existing State and Central Government medical colleges, standalone PG institutes and government hospitals for increasing 5,000 PG seats.
The scheme carries an enhanced cost ceiling of Rs 1.50 crore per seat and will be implemented from financial year 2025-26 to 2028-29.
On the proposal to convert Diploma seats into full-fledged PG medical degree seats, the government said that, as informed by NBEMS, there is no proposal under consideration to convert all Diploma seats into full-fledged PG medical degree (DNB) seats.
Regarding fees in private medical institutions and deemed universities, the government said fixation of fees for medical courses, including PG courses, falls within the domain of the respective State/UT governments and varies from State to State.
The NMC has framed guidelines for determination of fees and other charges for 50 per cent of seats in private medical institutions and deemed universities under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. The guidelines were issued on February 3, 2022, but have been challenged in various courts and are currently sub judice.
For NBEMS courses, including Diplomate of National Board (DNB), Doctorate of National Board (DrNB), Fellowship of National Board (FNB) and Diploma courses, the government said fees are centrally regulated, uniform and affordable across the country. The annual course fee for these programmes is Rs 1.25 lakh.
The year-wise data in the reply shows that NMC approved 9,084 PG seats in 2025-26, while NBEMS approved 2,009 seats during the same academic year. In 2024-25, NMC approved 4,188 seats and NBEMS 1,667 seats—(KNO)