
AMN / NEW DELHI
In a significant move towards affordable medical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has notified the Minimum Requirements for Annual MBBS Admissions Regulations (2020). The notification which was issued Saturday, replaces the ‘Minimum Standard Requirements for Medical Colleges, 1999 of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI).
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the new Regulation will be applicable to all new medical colleges proposed to be established, and to the established medical colleges proposing to increase their annual MBBS intake from the academic year 2021-22. During the transitory period, the established medical colleges will be governed by the relevant regulations existing prior to the current notification.
The new standards allow optimization and flexibility in utilizing available resources, and harnessing modern educational technology tools to facilitate moving towards quality education, even when resources are relatively scarce.
The new Regulation has d the quantum of land required for setting up a medical college and its affiliated teaching hospitals. Under the new Regulation, a well-equipped ‘Skills Laboratory’ for training students is essential now. It also defines a Medical Education Unit for training medical teachers in educational pedagogy.
The new regulation also mandates the availability of a fully functional 300 bed multi-speciality hospital for at least two years at the time of application for establishing a new medical college.
The new standards have been defined keeping the functional requirements of the institution(s). These allow optimisation and flexibility in utilising available resources, and harnessing modern educational technology tools to facilitate moving towards quality education, even when resources are relatively scarce, the ministry said.
“In a significant step towards affordable medical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has notified its first major regulation. Titled as ‘Minimum Requirements For Annual MBBS Admissions Regulations (2020)’, the notification issued today replaces the Minimum Standard Requirements for Medical Colleges, 1999 (for 50/100/150/200/250 Annual Admissions) of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI),” the ministry said.

The new regulation has deleted the quantum of land required for setting up a medical college and its affiliated teaching hospitals, it said.
In tier 1 and tier 2 cities, hilly and north-east states and notified tribal areas, the campus could also be on two plots of land – one housing the teaching hospital and the other the medical college with hostels for students and interns, the notification stated.
If the campus is housed in more than one plot of land, the distance between each one of these plots should be less than 10 km or less than that of 30 minutes travelling time.
“Provided that where the government district hospital is being considered for use as the teaching hospital of a medical college, all constituents of the district hospital, even if they are on two plots of land, will be considered as the affiliated teaching hospital, provided that the main district hospital has at least 300 beds or in Hilly and North-East states has 250 beds,” it said.
According to the new regulations, every medical institution shall have a skills laboratory where students can practice and improve skills pre-specified in the curriculum.
The purpose of the skills laboratory is to provide a safe and non-threatening environment for students to learn, practice and be observed performing skills in a simulated environment thus mitigating the risks involved in direct patient exposure without adequate preparation and supervision.