New Delhi: In a significant policy change, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has removed key restrictions on MBBS seat expansion, opening the door to a substantial increase in undergraduate medical seats across the country.In a gazette notification issued on April 27, the NMC amended its 2023 rules governing new medical colleges and expansion of existing courses.The amendment removes the clause that had capped the total number of MBBS seats per college at 150 for those seeking extension from the 2024-25 academic year. Colleges wishing to increase admissions will no longer be bound by this upper limit.The commission has also removed the requirement that states had to maintain a ratio of 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population, a criterion that earlier guided approval for new seats.Officials indicated that the changes are intended to provide greater flexibility to institutions and support the rapid expansion of medical education capacity in line with the growing demand for doctors.In another operational change, the NMC has revised the norms related to the distance between the medical college and its teaching hospital. Instead of a 30-minute travel-time limit, the rules now set a maximum distance of 10 km. The limit has been relaxed to 15 km for North-Eastern and Himalayan states.The amendments have been notified under the NMC Act, 2019, and apply to both the Undergraduate Medical Education Board’s seat expansion guidelines and the Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023.The move is expected to benefit both government and private medical colleges looking to increase capacity, especially in states where demand for seats exceeds supply, while the responsibility of maintaining quality standards and infrastructure has been placed on regulators.