NEW DELHI: Medical aspirants seeking admission in postgraduate studies will have more choice this year after the National Medical Commission (NMC) approved 171 additional PG seats in medical colleges and directed advisory boards to accommodate them without waiting for formal approvals. According to a public notice, the 171 additional seats cover key clinical and diagnostic specialties including family medicine, general surgery, anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, radiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, orthopedics, respiratory medicine and pathology. Colleges in several states – including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Haryana – have been given additional seats through the appointment process. In a notification dated December 31, 2025, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board of the NMC said that the postgraduate seats granted by the First Appeal Committee for the academic year 2025-26 will be deemed valid for the advisory process. Advisory authorities have been told that they do not have to wait for letters of approval (LoPs) from individual institutions to proceed. The additional seats were approved after medical colleges challenged earlier MARB decisions under the provisions of the NMC Act, 2019. These appointments were considered by the First Appointments Board at meetings on December 22 and 23, after which additional seats were approved. The Commission clarified that the list uploaded on the NMC website would itself serve as a valid document for consultation to ensure that eligible PG seats are not lost due to administrative delays. Formal LoPs for the newly approved seats would be released soon, it said. Officials said the move was aimed at maximizing seat utilization while maintaining regulatory oversight through the appeals mechanism. The state medical education boards and advisory boards have been directed to immediately comply with the decision. For thousands of PG aspirants, the admission offers additional opportunities at a time when competition for postgraduate medical positions remains intense.
