Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Nearly one-third of posts in the National Medical Commission (NMC), the country’s apex medical education regulator, are lying vacant, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on February 10, 2026.Replying to a question by Shri Vivek K. Tankha, minister of state for health Anupriya Patel said the sanctioned strength of the NMC and its four autonomous boards is 54, of which 19 posts are vacant. At present, only 35 positions are filled across the Commission and its boards.Within the Commission itself, out of 33 sanctioned posts — comprising the Chairman, ex-officio members and part-time members — 28 are in position. The Secretary’s post is filled. However, vacancies are more visible across the autonomous boards responsible for regulating undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, medical assessment and accreditation, and ethics and medical registration.Parliamentary data indicate that some boards are functioning with only a limited number of members in place, with several President and whole-time member posts unfilled. These boards play a crucial role in approving medical colleges, monitoring standards of training and enforcing professional ethics.Addressing concerns about functioning amid vacancies, the Commission informed the government that “appropriate institutional mechanisms” are in place to ensure continued discharge of statutory responsibilities under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.The ministry added that filling up vacancies is a continuous process and action is taken as per provisions of the Act, including issuing advertisements from time to time to fill vacant posts.The disclosure comes at a time when India is expanding its medical education capacity, increasing the number of colleges and seats, making full staffing at the regulatory level critical to maintaining standards and oversight.
