New Delhi: Nearly one-third of the posts in the National Medical Commission (NMC), the country’s top medical education regulator, are vacant, the Center informed the Indian Parliament on February 10, 2026.Replying to a question from Shri Vivek K. Tankha, Health Minister Anupriya Patel said that the sanctioned number of NMC and its four autonomous committees is 54, out of which 19 posts are vacant. Currently, the commission and its board of directors have only 35 positions filled.Within the Commission, 28 of the 33 approved positions (including Chair, ex-officio and part-time members) are in place. The secretary position is filled. However, vacancies are more pronounced in autonomous committees responsible for regulating undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, medical assessment and accreditation, ethics and medical registration.Parliamentary figures show some committees are operating with only a limited number of members, with some chair and full-time member positions vacant. These committees play a vital role in approving medical schools, overseeing training standards and enforcing professional ethics.Addressing concerns over operations during the vacancy period, the commission informed the government that “appropriate institutional mechanisms” are in place to ensure that statutory duties under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 continue to be discharged.The ministry added that filling vacancies is an ongoing process and action is taken in accordance with the provisions of the Act, including issuing advertisements to fill vacant posts from time to time.The disclosure comes at a time when India is expanding its medical education capabilities, increasing the number of colleges and seats, making adequate staffing at the regulatory level critical to maintaining standards and oversight.
