Bhubaneswar, Jan 13: In a major push to strengthen its healthcare and medical education ecosystem, the Odisha government has initiated a significant expansion of postgraduate (PG) medical education by proposing the addition of 502 new PG seats for the 2026–27 academic session.
The move, directed by the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), is aimed at nearly doubling the existing PG specialisation capacity in government-run institutions to meet the growing demand for specialist doctors across the State.
As part of the process, Deans of 11 government medical colleges and two postgraduate institutes have been instructed to prepare detailed infrastructure and financial proposals for submission to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to obtain final approval.
The proposed seat expansion prioritises medical colleges in Odisha’s interior districts, with an aim to develop them into tertiary healthcare centres. The tentative distribution includes:
GMC Phulbani: 76 seats
SLN Medical College, Koraput: 75 seats
MJK Medical College, Jajpur: 70 seats
Bhima Bhoi Medical College, Balangir: 57 seats
SCB Medical College, Cuttack: 24 seats
PGIMER & Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar: 26 seats
Officials said the initiative is designed to correct a long-standing imbalance between the number of MBBS graduates and the availability of PG seats in the State.
Odisha currently produces around 1,925 MBBS graduates annually from government medical colleges alone. However, the availability of PG seats remains limited:
Government PG seats: 615
Private/Deemed PG seats: 346 (mainly at KIMS and SUM Hospital)
Even after including private institutions, there is less than one PG seat for every two MBBS graduates, forcing many young doctors to either leave the State for specialisation or continue as general practitioners.
This bottleneck has contributed significantly to doctor shortages in government hospitals. As per official data from late 2025:
Sanctioned doctor posts: 15,774
Vacant posts: 9,503- nearly 60 per cent
Specialist vacancies in rural districts often exceed 50 per cent, particularly for surgeons, paediatricians and gynaecologists.
Odisha’s doctor-to-population ratio currently stands at 1:1,735, well below the World Health Organization’s recommended standard of 1:1,000.
Health officials believe the expansion of PG seats will help create a sustainable service pipeline. Most PG students will serve in district hospitals during their three-year training period, offering immediate relief to specialised departments in underserved regions such as Koraput, Phulbani and Balangir.
The proposed expansion is being viewed as a crucial step towards improving healthcare access, reducing specialist shortages and strengthening public health infrastructure across Odisha.
