MBBS in Uzbekistan: MEA asks students to follow NMC rules as Indian admissions drop sharply

Indian students who choose MBBS in Uzbekistan must receive training that meets National Medical Commission rules, India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday, 3 November, at a time when the number of Indians joining medical colleges in that country has dropped steeply.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi remains in touch with Uzbek authorities on matters concerning Indian students. The government, he said, wants those heading there, whether for medicine or other courses, to get quality education in line with NMC guidelines and to be protected from “unscrupulous elements” in India as well as in Uzbekistan.

Jaiswal was answering a question that put Indian admissions in the 2026 intake at about 200, against a few thousand a year earlier, and asked whether New Delhi had discussed limiting the intake with Tashkent. He gave no figures and did not say whether any limit had been agreed. He asked students instead to read the guidance put out by the NMC and by India’s embassy in Tashkent, which he said also covers medical study in several other countries.

What the advisories say

The NMC advisory, dated 1 April 2026, named Bukhara State Medical Institute, Samarkand State Medical University, Tashkent State Medical University and TIT Institute of Medical Sciences in Bengaluru, an offshore campus tied to the Termez branch of the Tashkent university. It followed a letter from the embassy that pointed to colleges taking more students than their sanctioned seats and to poor bedside training where lessons were not in English.

The embassy later clarified that the advisory was a precaution and not a ban on those universities, and that it was working with them on intake limits, clinical training and NMC norms. Under the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021, a shortfall in course length, teaching language, syllabus, clinical training or internship can stop a graduate from registering as a doctor in India.

Advice for families

The embassy’s guidance page for medical aspirants puts the number of Indian students now in Uzbekistan at about 16,000. It asks applicants to confirm that classes are held in English, to deal with universities directly and keep away from education agents where they can, to sign contracts only in English or in a bilingual form, and to pay fees through banks with receipts instead of handing over cash.