India’s medical colleges lose 16 000 seats because of poor standards

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has scrapped a third of medical seats across the country in a move that aims to standardise the quality of medical education in India.

The council withdrew permission for 15 890 of the 49 950 MBBS seats in Indian medical colleges, explaining that several had failed to maintain the minimum required infrastructure to provide standard medical education. Colleges had until 15 June to appeal the withdrawal of seats if they could prove that they had complied with the standards laid out by the council.

The number of seats abolished included 2100 in Andhra Pradesh, …