Concerns about quality of health care, unemployment, as RMPs in Keralam cross one-lakh mark

The number of registered medical practitioners (RMP) in Keralam has crossed one-lakh mark, and 32.75% of them got their registrations between 2021 and 2025, data collected from the Kerala State Medical Councils (KSMC) till October 8, 2026, show.

According to RTI data collected from the KSMC, there are 1,13,023 RMPs in the State. As many as 31,446 doctors were registered between 2021 and 2025. A total of 5,981 doctors got registered in 2021, 5,734 in 2022, 5,283 in 2023, 7,065 in 2024, and 7,383 in 2025. As many as 2,695 doctors registered with the KSMC till October 8 this year.

K.V. Babu, Kannur-based ophthalmologist and public health activist, who gathered the information, says that 95,993 doctors were added to the list in the last 27 years. “Keralam’s population is around 3.62 crore. Among the above-mentioned doctors, at least some may have migrated to other States or abroad seeking better opportunities. However, if at least 80,000 of them are here, there is one MBBS doctor for a population of 450 people already,” he says. Dr. Babu claims that the consequences of this trend could be unemployment among medical graduates and commercialisation of health care.

Seats fall vacant

“According to reports, hundreds of MBBS seats have fallen vacant in [deemed-to-be universities] in Tamil Nadu this year [after the final round of counselling for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for undergraduate medical courses]. A similar phenomenon could happen in Keralam as well. The government should study this issue before giving permission for new medical colleges,” he says.

M.N. Menon, president, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala State branch, says around 5,000 graduates are coming out of medical colleges in the State every year. “Another 2,000 are passing out from other States and countries. Unemployment among new medical graduates is already high. Instead of granting sanction for new medical colleges, the government should improve the infrastructure in the existing ones and deploy qualified faculty members. Also, we are seeing shortage of doctors and faculty members in government hospitals and government medical colleges. The focus should also be on appointing necessary staff there,” Dr. Menon adds.