NMC withdraws approval for Vaishno Devi Medical College amid row

The National Medical Commission's Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) has withdrawn the letter of permission granted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi for non-compliance with minimum standards. “However, over the past two weeks, the NMC has received multiple complaints containing serious allegations against the institution, inter alia, regarding inadequate infrastructure, insufficient clinical material, shortage of qualified full-time teaching faculty and inadequate number of resident doctors,” it noted. “The MARB decided to conduct a surprise physical inspection to verify the veracity of the complaints. The assessment report submitted by the team established that the complaints were true and substantiated. The deficiencies observed were gross and substantial in nature,” it stated.

An order issued by the MARB on Tuesday said all students admitted to the college during the counselling for the academic year 2025-26 shall be accommodated in other medical institutions in Jammu and Kashmir as supernumerary seats by the competent authority of the Union Territory administration. This means no admitted student will lose an MBBS seat due to the withdrawal decision. Instead, they will be adjusted in other recognised medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir over and above their regular sanctioned intake.

The decision comes amid the recent controversy over the admission of 46 Muslim students out of a total of 50 in the maiden batch for MBBS course at the medical college. Locals and various Hindu organisations were demanding reservation to Hindu candidates on the grounds that the medical college was made and being largely run out of donations of Hindu devotees at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.