New Delhi: Aspiring medical students can now look forward to an expanded medical education sector as 3,595 more MBBS seats have been created this year.

Of these, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has given its approval to 2,400 fresh MBBS seats in 20 new medical colleges and 1,195 additional seats in existing medical colleges across the country, sources said.

These new seats come close on the heels of 300 additional MBBS seats created through six new AIIMS-like institutes in as many states from September this year.

Medical students have also reasons to cheer now, as the MCI has created 1,442 new post-graduate seats, with 1,326 MD/MS seats in various existing medical colleges and another 116 super-speciality seats for DM/MCH.

Among the new medical colleges approved by MCI now, include nine in the government sector and 11 private ones. Among the states in which new medical colleges will come up include Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat (where the government-run Medical Education and Research Society will set up the medical college).

The MCI last year had created 4,452 fresh MBBS seats in 21 new medical colleges and additional seats in existing medical colleges in the country.

The new seats approved by MCI would help correct the existing imbalance in the availability of public health resources, Health Ministry officials said.

With their coming into operation, the overall availability of MBBS seats in India would rise to 45,464 and the number of medical colleges in the country would rise to 355.