Quality medical education is the backbone of the healthcare system and medical research. India has the largest number of medical colleges in the world, yet the country continues to grapple with the shortage of adequate medical seats despite the shortage of doctors. The situation cannot be expected to improve with the increase in affordable medical seats in both government and private medical colleges. Official data shows that of 5,527 sanctioned faculty positions in all All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), more than 2000 positions are vacant, while AIIMS, New Delhi alone, has a faculty shortage of 28% of the total sanctioned strength. The figures speak volumes about the ground realities and call for urgent measures. A report of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare highlights that a recent assessment of 246 medical colleges in 2022–23 by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) under the National Medical Commission (NMC) revealed that no medical college had adequate faculty members or senior residents, and all failed to meet the 50% attendance requirement. The assessment brought to light that most of the colleges had either ghost faculty or senior residents or had yet to employ the required faculty at all. The parliamentary panel identified the affordability of medical education as a key factor influencing the current status of medical education in the country. “The average MBBS course fees across government colleges in India (both centrally funded and state-funded) can reach Rs. 50,000 per annum. However, such subsidised medical education can only be availed of by a select few who perform exceedingly well in the NEET UG exam,” the panel points out. Quoting information furnished by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it also highlights that there are only 56,193 government seats in MBBS, while more than 11 lakh candidates qualified for the NEET UG exam in 2023. Therefore, more than 10 lakh MBBS aspirants are left either to opt for MBBS seats in private medical colleges where the course fees can range up to Rs 1.5 crore or to pursue their dream in countries like China, Ukraine, and Russia, where the cost is lower in comparison to private medical colleges in India. Bridging the gap between demand and supply through the establishment of more medical colleges and filling up the sanctioned strength of all medical colleges and premier institutes of medical education like AIIMS remains a crucial step to overcome the challenge of a shortage of quality medical professionals. Information provided to the Committee also brought to light that the amount of fee charged varies significantly among the States and Union Territories, and the cost of medical education ranges between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore, or more. NITI Aayog's "Barriers to Recruitment, Onboarding, and Retention of Faculty in Government Medical Colleges of India" report, referred to in the panel’s report, identifies several primary reasons for the severe shortage of faculty in medical colleges. These include delays in the recruitment process, often extending from the approval stage to the actual job advertisements, lasting as long as 2 to 4 years; well-compensated positions in the private sector attracting professionals in the fields of surgery and super-specialties; the preference for job postings in major urban centres or near one's hometown; and the alteration in NMC guidelines in 2019 that has led to a restriction on recruiting faculty members with postgraduate qualifications in basic sciences, permitting only MBBS graduates to fill positions. The Committee’s recommendations for rationalising the cost of medical education focus on the partnership of private medical colleges with district hospitals to ensure sufficient clinical material for MBBS students and decrease the establishment and functioning costs of private medical colleges. Another suggestion for reducing the cost of private medical education is for the government to subsidise the necessary sophisticated and costly equipment and machines for the setting up of skill labs in private colleges. The private medical colleges passing on the benefits of such collaboration and government investment to students must be ensured. A Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Quality Council of India and the NMC's Medical Assessment and Rating Board has paved the way for the mandatory rating and ranking of all medical colleges, both private and public, starting next academic year. This is a laudable move, as the current regulations make the participation of only government medical colleges in the National Institutional Ranking Framework voluntary and the participation of private medical colleges voluntary. As a result, only those private medical colleges with good academic records take part in NIRF, while most private medical colleges in the country are yet to be ranked, raising questions over the quality of education in those colleges. The ranking of the colleges will be useful for students to decide where to pursue their undergraduate or postgraduate medical education. Medical education receiving the timely attention of the government and other stakeholders is critical to improving healthcare services.