Chennai: This year, the seat matrix for Tamil Nadu's undergraduate medical programme is unlikely to see an increase in government medical colleges compared to 2025. Plus Max Medical College and Hospital, a new private college in Salem, has applied to start the MBBS programme, while some existing colleges have sought higher intake.
Officials at the state selection committee said they will finalise the seat matrix after the National Medical Commission reviews these proposals.
In 2025, Tamil Nadu had 78 institutions — government medical colleges, self-financing colleges, private medical universities, deemed universities, and AIIMS-Madurai. While state-run colleges had 5,050 MBBS seats, ESIC Medical College at KK Nagar had 150, and AIIMS Madurai had 50 seats. In the private sector, self-financing colleges affiliated to state medical universities offered a total of 3,900 seats, while private universities and deemed universities offered 850 and 3,050 undergraduate medical seats, respectively.
State health minister Ma Subramanian earlier said that the state's policy is to establish one government medical college in each district and that the state has sought permission to start medical colleges in six new districts. However, doctors' bodies, including the Indian Medical Association and Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association, have been lobbying with the government to delay opening new colleges or increasing seats.
Dr K Senthil, TNDGA president, said Tamil Nadu has one doctor for nearly 700 people, against the WHO requirement of one for 1,000. 'In 10 years, Tamil Nadu will have one doctor for every 350 people because every year 10,000 MBBS graduates and 1,500 foreign medical graduates apply to get their medical licence,' he said. With a fertility rate of 1.4, the population is declining too. Instead of increasing MBBS seats, southern states must increase postgraduate and super-speciality seats, he added.
However, officials say colleges in Tamil Nadu will offer more doctors to the country, which is still working to meet the WHO requirement. Even within the state, the distribution is not even, said officials, adding that more medical colleges will ensure more jobs and judicious distribution of doctors.
