Indian medical institutions are known world over for providing medical education of international standards and train committed health professionals for achieving ‘Health for all’.

There are 18 university-level institutions and 785 medical colleges offering under graduate programmes in medicine and related areas (including pharmacy, ayurveda, unani, homeopathic and nursing). The Statutory bodies at state and central level have a check on infrastructure, standard of faculty, instructional aids, institutional support and clinical practices. It is mandatory for all medical /dental/ pharmacy /nursing colleges to get themselves recognised by the statutory bodies, i.e., Medical Council of India /Dental Council of India /Pharmacy Council of India/Indian Nursing Council at central level. All the colleges are affiliated to Universities.

Securing Admission
NRIs can get admission in MBBS, BDS or any other undergraduate medical course offered by public and government medical institutions through the entrance tests conducted by CBSE/states/ institutions.
Admission of foreign nationals/PIOs in MBBS, BDS or any other undergraduate medical course is through nominations made by the Ministry for Health & Family Welfare.
For students from developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, where facilities for
medical education are either inadequate or not available at all, a limited number of seats are
reserved in the MBBS and BDS courses. The exact number and country-based allocation of
these reserved seats vary annually.
Students can apply to the International Students Cell, at International Students Cell at the following address: International Students Cell, Room No. 1009, Ministry of External Affairs, Akbar Bhavan, New Delhi 110 021.
For postgraduate courses, self-financing international students can apply to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh. Both these institutes conduct a written competitive examination twice a year during the January and July sessions.
In private medical colleges recognised by the Medical Council of India, international students can seek admission to undergraduate courses in medicine (MBBS). Here, 15 per cent of the payment seats (which are half the total seats available) can be filled by NRI/foreign students. These private colleges conduct entrance examinations themselves.