Difference Between MCI Permitted & Recognised Medical Seat

Every year at time of Medical admissions into MBBS or PG Degree/ Diploma courses students get confused as they do not know difference between a Medical Council of India (MCI) permitted seat and a MCI recognized (recognized) seat. So I will try to explain it as simple as possible.

A MCI permitted seat is any MBBS or Post Graduation (PG) Degree/ Diploma seat which has been allowed by MCI to admit students. So If a student has completed his/her UG/PG in a MCI permitted seat but not a MCI recognized seat can only practice in state in which the institute is located. For example a student has done his UG/PG Degree from an institute in Maharashtra which has a seat which is MCI permitted but not MCI recognized then that student can only practice in Maharashtra and not in any other state in India. But If that seat gets recognized by MCI in future then he can practice anywhere in India.

In practice MCI recognizes seat within 3 years of it making the seat permitted in most of the cases unless the institute doesn’t have enough faculty, facility or the infrastructure to meet the standards or norms stipulated to satisfy MCI inspection done on the institute. If application of recognition  is rejected by MCI, institute can again apply for recognition of the seat after improving its facilities and offer for inspection to the MCI. If MCI is satisfied with improvements done by the institute to it’s faculty, facility or the infrastructure on re-inspection, it gives recognized status to that seat which was earlier approved.

So in short a student who has done MBBS/PG Degree or Diploma from a MCI approved seat cannot practice outside the state of the institute and those from MCI recognized seats can practice anywhere in India.

I am adding an extra point because it was asked by one of our readers in comments section that “Is it a requirement to do MD/ MS from a MCI recognized institute/ University to be eligible to do Superspeciality Medical courses?”
Answer to above question is Yes. Candidate must do Md/ MS from a MCI recognized institute/ university to be eligible for Superspeciality medical courses.
Following are examples/ proof that degree from MCI recognized institute is necessary for eligibility for DM/ M.Ch courses:

• AIIMS PG January 2015 prospectus mentions following statement is the eligibility criteria of DM/ M.Ch courses. It says “A Candidate must possess a degree in MD/MS or DNB from a University recognized by the MCI in the respective discipline”
• Also Maharashtra MH-SSET 2014 information brochure mentions “The candidate must possess recognized postgraduate degree MD/MS or its equivalent from a medical college recognized by MCI. “