NMC’s Post-Graduate Medical Education Board Issues Immediate Amendments to PGMSR‑2023
Summary of the update and who it affects
The Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued an amendment to the Post‑Graduate Minimum Standards of Requirements, 2023 (PGMSR‑2023), with immediate effect. A public notice dated 11 March 2026 informs medical colleges and institutions across the country that the latest changes — effective from 20 February 2026 — must be implemented without delay. The directive is addressed to Directors, Principals and Deans of all medical colleges and institutions in India and requests institutional compliance with the updated requirements.
Legal basis and amendment history
The PGMEB derives its authority to set minimum standards from Section 25(1)(a), (c), (d) and (e) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, Regulation 10 of the “Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses and Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023,” and Regulation 3.4 of the Post‑Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023. The first version of PGMSR‑2023 was issued on 16 January 2024, with subsequent amendments on 23 August 2024 and 14 January 2025. The February 2026 amendment is the latest in this sequence, intended to update and clarify requirements for delivering postgraduate medical education.
Key provisions of the amended PGMSR‑2023
Scope: Undergraduate and postgraduate obligations
Institutions that conduct both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching are required to meet the undergraduate minimum standards as prescribed by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) in the UG‑MSR document, in addition to the specific and additional requirements for postgraduate training set out in PGMSR‑2023.
Infrastructure and hospital facility requirements
– Hospital buildings must conform to national building norms and applicable local statutory regulations. Facilities should accommodate administration, registration, records storage, outpatient and inpatient areas, operating theaters, Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD), Intensive Care Units (ICU), radiology, laboratory services and emergency areas.
– Mandatory regulatory and licensing approvals, and all statutory clearances, must be obtained from the appropriate administrative authorities, including State/Central Government bodies, Pollution Control Boards and municipal bodies.
Departmental resources, equipment and digital capability
– All departments must maintain an adequate number of up‑to‑date in‑house equipment and training facilities. Departments are required to have a digital library and a seminar hall with high‑speed internet/Wi‑Fi capable of relaying operations and global live scientific programs.
– Specific departments — Radiodiagnosis, Anaesthesiology, Pathology, Microbiology and Biochemistry — must scale faculty, infrastructure and other staff proportionate to increases in beds and workload.
– Institutions must maintain in‑house laboratory and imaging services run by the responsible departments; both laboratories and imaging facilities must be contemporary and periodically updated.
Patient load, beds and intensive care norms
– At least 80% of the hospital beds should be occupied throughout the year by patients requiring inpatient care.
– A minimum of 15% of total beds in any department imparting postgraduate training must be ICU/HDU beds exclusively under that department; two‑thirds of these beds should be ICU beds.
– ICU beds that are under a department’s administrative control will be included in that department’s bed strength for counting purposes.
Clinical training spaces and learning resources
– Adequate outpatient examination cubicles and one teaching room per teaching department, equipped with audio‑visual facilities, are required to support clinical case discussions and demonstrations.
– A departmental library containing essential books and journals aligned with curriculum requirements must be available.
– Records must be digitized: admissions, discharges, deliveries, surgeries, procedures, births, deaths and investigations should have digital records; Medical Record Department (MRD) records are to be digital with ICD classification.
Blood bank and transfusion services
– Institutions shall have a well‑equipped, air‑conditioned blood bank capable of component therapy. Blood transfusion services must conform to National AIDS Control Organization guidelines and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules (Schedule‑F Part XII‑B), and remain under the administrative control of Pathology when a separate Immunohaematology and Blood Transfusion department does not exist.
Faculty, attendance and monitoring
– Faculty must be full‑time and not engage in private practice during college working hours. A minimum of 75% attendance in a calendar year is mandatory; total working days will be counted as 300 to compute this threshold. If faculty turnover occurs within the year, cumulative attendance will be considered.
– Every medical college is required to install Close Circuit Cameras at prescribed locations in line with NMC prescriptions.
– All faculty, senior residents and junior residents must mark attendance on the AEBAS biometric system as per NMC guidelines.
Transparency and online information
– Each college or institute must maintain an up‑to‑date website and refresh specified information during the first week of every month. Required details include departments and facilities, PG courses and sanctioned seats, faculty lists for the last three years with joining/leaving dates and contact details, student admission lists for the last three years, average daily outpatient attendance, average daily bed occupancy and annual major/minor surgical volumes by department. The PGMEB may direct additional disclosures as needed.
Specific rules for standalone postgraduate institutes
– Standalone PG institutes established under the relevant provision of PGMER‑2023 must have a minimum of 220 beds and maintain fully functional departments of Biochemistry, Pathology, Microbiology, Radiodiagnosis and Anaesthesiology (when a surgical specialty is present). Such institutes must also provide teaching resources for basic sciences as required.
Operational and seat‑related requirements
– Institutions must integrate with the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) framework and facilitate generation/linking of ABHA IDs for OPD and IPD patients; progressive, time‑bound coverage is required.
– For fresh cases to start new PG courses or increase annual intake, a maximum of four seats will be permitted in non‑government institutions.
– Either one Post‑Doctoral Certificate Course (PDCC) or one Post‑Doctoral Fellowship (PDF) student may be admitted annually in addition to sanctioned seats per unit, or one PDCC/PDF per every five sanctioned seats where a unit structure is absent.
– Departments with inpatient beds must maintain a daily master register authenticated by faculty showing patient details, diagnosis and ABHA ID.
Faculty‑student ratios, unit caps and clinical workload
– The amended document includes requirements for clinical material/investigation workload and faculty‑to‑student ratios aligned with curriculum documents issued by the NMC. Assistant Professors who meet guide qualifications under the Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations may be allotted one postgraduate student, subject to the relevant sections cited.
– A department may have a maximum of six units and each unit may have up to 40 beds. Clinical workload indicators such as invasive ventilator support cases, haemodialysis numbers, births, deaths, blood component usage and major surgeries will be used as corroborative evidence of clinical workload when assessing training adequacy.
Compliance and next steps for institutions
The PGMEB has stated these amendments come into force immediately. Medical colleges and postgraduate institutes should review the amended PGMSR‑2023 in detail, ensure statutory clearances and digital record systems are in place, update websites monthly with required data, integrate ABHA linkage and adopt the specified faculty, bed and infrastructure norms. Institutions are required to take note of the amendments for compliance and prepare for periodic review by the Commission.
For the official public notice and full amended text, medichelpline has published the notice referenced by the PGMEB. Institutions should consult the formal amendment document to align institutional policies and submit to any further directions issued by the Commission.