Non-MBBS faculty, specifically Medical M.Sc. and Ph.D. holders, are now permitted to teach in medical colleges in India, with a limit of 30% of the total faculty posts in the Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology departments, according to the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) regulations finalised in June 2025. NMC is the statutory body in India to regulate medical education, professionals, and medical institutions in the country. This decision reverses a 2020 restriction that had reduced this allowance to 15% and is aimed at addressing faculty shortages and expanding medical education access.
The allowance, however, has faculty—non-MBBS and MBBS degree holders—at medical colleges across India divided and at loggerheads about who should be ideally allowed to teach future doctors? MBBS doctors-teachers argue that the inclusion is a dilution of medical education standards, but what is also true is the fact that the argument is also about employment and job security.
Also Read: Non-MBBS Ph.D. faculty in medical colleges: Perspectives from faculty and doctors
India with 780 MBBS colleges offering over 1.18 lakh seats has the largest number of medical colleges in the world. Brazil with approximately 389 colleges is a distant second. India has also registered an increase of over 100% in medical colleges rising from 387 before 2014 to 780 in 2025. Additionally, MBBS seats have surged by 118%, growing from 51,348 before 2014 to 1,18,135 in 2025.
Non-MBBS faculty teach foundational science courses, including Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology, and Pharmacology. Employing non-medical educators in medical education is a globally accepted practice, with even countries like the United States having non-medical educators forming the vast majority of faculty in preclinical subjects, and exactly like in India the roles of non-medical faculty primarily involve teaching subjects that do not require direct patient care.
Also Read: How distance Ph.D.s and non-MBBS appointments are undermining India’s clinical teaching standards
Shashank Kambali, president, The M.Sc Medicine Association, a group representing non-MBBS faculty, states that there is growing resentment amongst doctors about the appointment of non-MBBS teachers. “They argue that we lack clinical knowledge and don’t have experience in seeing patients. Many non-MBBS graduates come from practicing backgrounds such as Bachelor’s in Dental Surgery, Physiotherapy and Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery and B.Sc Nursing, and more, and have received medical training during post-graduation,’’ he said adding that the increase in medical colleges has given rise to demand for the teachers.
“The ground reality is that the non-availability of teachers in non-clinical subjects is allowing MBBS graduates into PG in non-clinical branches through policies such as NEET-zero percentile, enabling students with the poorest of the poor performance in NEET PG to secure admission in PG,’’ he added.
Refuting these claims and stating that the quality of Indian medical education is under strain following the dilution of eligibility norms in the Medical Institutions (Qualification of Faculty) Regulations, 2025, Anoop Singh Gurjar, Head of Anatomy, GMC, Pali said that by permitting non-MBBS faculty we are compromising the clinical and academic integrity of training Indian Medical Graduates.
These candidates lack patient or clinical exposure during graduation. The 2025 order is a grave misstep. India already has adequate postgraduate seats — 1,228 in Anatomy, 1,125 in Biochemistry, 1,263 in Physiology, 1,607 in Microbiology, and 1,329 in Pharmacology — more than many clinical specialties — ensuring a sufficient MBBS-based faculty pool. By contrast, veterinary and AYUSH systems permit only registered graduates to teach. Allowing non-MBBS faculty in medical colleges is thus inconsistent and unjustifiable,’’ he said.
(This article is written by Bindu Shajan Perappadan, who is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Hindu covering health and pharma)
Published – August 25, 2025 03:20 pm IST
