Hamstrung by limited seats across Jammu and Kashmir’s 13 medical colleges and burdened by a skewed reservation policy, nearly 1,500 aspirants migrate abroad each year, taking with them ambition, anxiety, and an outflow of over Rs 500 crore. Masood Hussain examines how flawed political choices shaped this exodus, and why it’s still not too late to fix them
Born in pre-partition Amritsar, Zaman Azurdah was fascinated by a couple of Kashmiri doctors who would visit his home in their white aprons. He dreamed of becoming a doctor and was so keen that he kept a notebook to jot down details of the diseases he would contract and the doctors’ prescriptions alongside the precautions and the follow-ups.
“When I reached the stage of becoming one, my father had lost most of his fortune to the 1947 troubles, and I had to help with menial jobs to keep the hearth going,” Azurdah, one of the legends in Kashmir’s Urdu literature, said. A poet, a critic, a translator and an impressive prose writer, Azurdah has bagged all the honours that India’s literary fields could offer. “I gave up the MBBS dreams, became a school teacher and eventually a professor at the University of Kashmir.”
Early twenty-first century, a doctor couple in Srinagar who own a hospital urged their son to become a doctor. He was not interested. Instead, he loved physics. As he continued refusing things, his parents took the provocation route: You cannot do so. He felt forced, wrote the examination and passed it with flying colours. Then he wrote another examination and went to NIT, Srinagar. “I had to qualify to leave it,” Dr Mir Faizal said. “That was part of the deal I had with my parents.” Now, he is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Quantum Research Centre.
Unlike the rest of the world, where knowledge revolution enforced a new set of priorities on societies, Kashmir’s parents are not changing and are unlikely to change shortly as well. “They continue to chase the dreams for their kids, dreams which they failed to realise in their careers,” Ajaz Qayum, promoter of Career Pathways, a city counselling consultancy, said. “Every Kashmiri parent wants their son or daughter to be either a doctor or an engineer. They do not see the choices of their kids, their personalities and the other careers which are around. This is very problematic.” He pointed out that there is a huge difference between people opting for engineering in comparison to medicine. “Mathematics is gradually moving out of Kashmir,” he regretted.
This chase offers the bedrock foundation to a huge sub-economy that generates a turnover of more than Rs 2000 crore a year. In most cases, it starts with coaching in the 12th, first for passing with a good percentage the routine yearly examination, and soon after, the student is in a robotic classroom for NEET or JEE tests. There are too many instances where parents intending to send their wards to medical or engineering schools, enrol them for coaching in the tenth class only, even before that.
“On average, we can safely say that every year the coaching centre network in Kashmir has a fresh enrolment of 35000 students,” GN Var, who heads the Coaching Centre Association in Kashmir, said. “These students coach for the 11th class, 12th class and the professional examinations.” While most of the students prefer Srinagar, some students move out to Delhi and Kota, and now there are options available within the peripheral towns as well.
On average, the fresh enrolment in the coaching centre results in a per-head expenditure of not less than one lakh rupees a year. This excludes the boarding and lodging for which Srinagar has evolved a huge infrastructure over the years.
Unlike the JEE, the NEET data shows it all.
In 2021, 14,743 out of 31,479 who appeared had qualified, giving a success rate of 46.8 per cent.
In 2022, 20,005 out of 36,374 cleared the exam, with a success rate of roughly 55 per cent.
In 2023, 20,564 candidates qualified from 36,431 who appeared, pushing the qualification rate to 56.4 per cent—the highest in recent years.
The following year, 2024, saw 13295 qualifiers out of 24744, registering a 54.1 per cent success rate.
In 2025, the number of qualifiers dipped slightly to 24,015, while the number of students appearing rose to 49,326, leading to a qualification rate of 48.7 per cent.
Interesting Surprises
These national competitions throw up interesting surprises. In 2025, it was Aftaab Iqbal, a resident of remote Kheri village in Ramban, who had to walk for two hours to reach the nearest bus stand. Coached in Srinagar, he scored 622 and emerged the topper in Jammu and Kashmir with an AIR of 423. “This was my first attempt, after two years of hard work. Mock tests and following the study module helped build my confidence,” he told Kashmir Life. Throughout, he has been a student in a state-run school. “To reach Srinagar, we had to walk two hours before we could even find a vehicle.”
The success of Zubair ul Islam Bhat, a Khumriyal resident in Kupwara, was celebrated by many people. In 2023, his MLA, Sajad Gani Lone, said the Jammu and Kashmir Police had decided to arrest him under the Public Safety Act. Lone moved from office to office, not only to find that there was no serious charge against the young man, but also the fact that he was a brighter guy. “I thought, if he gets an opportunity, he can rebuild a life and help others,” Lone said.
Schooled at Army-run Goodwill School, Zubair had got admission for BSc in Physics at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a course he abandoned to join Bachelor in Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS). Now with 535 marks, he is aspiring to be a doctor.
There are other interesting instances. In one case, Ouba Saeed and Tabinda Saeed, twin sisters hailing from Lajurah (Pulwama) passed the NEET but have fallen a few notches below the expected cut-off.
A Loaded Dice
The opportunities in Kashmir have a heavier flip side. The crisis that students face in Jammu and Kashmir is that they have to be extremely intelligent (read memory or rote-learning) to make it to the medical school. The reservations have blocked all opportunities, and now the open merit is one of the smallest categories in any professional admission or even in jobs.
After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Jammu and Kashmir revised its reservation policy, which now allocates 65 per cent of seats in government jobs and educational institutions to various reserved categories, leaving only 35 per cent for open merit. The quotas include 8 per cent for Scheduled Castes, 10 per cent for Scheduled Tribes (split between Jammu and Kashmir provinces), 4 per cent for Other Backward Classes, 10 per cent for Economically Weaker Sections, 20 per cent for Residents of Backward Areas, and 3 per cent for those living near the Actual Line of Control.
Politicians have been crying hoarse over this issue, and the Omar Abdullah-led government constituted a cabinet subcommittee to make it rational. The report was discussed in the cabinet on June 18, 2025. Omar said it has been sent to the legal department for examination. But what the report said: nobody knows.
Jammu and Kashmir has 12 medical colleges with 1285 berths to offer. Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College is expected to come up at Katra this year with 50 additional seats. Demand is much higher, and the reservation clause is pushing the merit holders to look beyond the infrastructure that the erstwhile state has. Authorities are making efforts to add 400 more seats to the existing infrastructure.
Private Education
The huge gap in demand and availability has led to the rise of another vast sub-sector that takes care of the professional education of students within and outside the country. They work with hundreds of medical schools across the world and place the aspiring medics in the colleges of their choice, for a fee.
“It is a dynamic process and it changes every year,” Basharat Ahmad, promoter of the Es Es Consultants, said. “Till recently, Iran was the top choice, but it has changed over the years.”
Basharat said there are more than 100 concerns across Kashmir, which are grouped under the Kashmir Career Counselling Association (KCCA). “It is a hectic job. We locate the demand in Kashmir and explore areas within and outside India where those aspirations could be met,” Basharat said. “Then there are facilities, pricing, placements and taking care of the people who move out of their homes. It is a challenge for us.”
Over the years, however, the priorities are shifting. “Way back in 2015, whoever passed the twelfth examination was eligible for admission in any of the medical schools in most of the world,” he said. “Then National Medical Council (NMC) started changing the norms. Nobody in India can now be enrolled in any medical school abroad unless he has a NEET score. Then, in 2021, additional requirements were added under the notification that changed the process completely.”
Basharat said the situation is changing. At one point in time, Iran would be hugely in demand for low fees and better cultural affinity. “Not any more. Now, more people go to Bangladesh,” he said. “The Iranian medical school infrastructure is not following all the preconditions set by the NMC in India. That is playing a major role in getting Iran off the student priorities.”
On average, it must be fewer than 1000 students who move out of Kashmir and get enrolled in the medical colleges within and outside India. “Within the country, almost 100 students get admitted to the private medical colleges, and the rest find their training campuses in Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other places. The numbers are going down gradually.” Earlier, a good number of students would go to Ukraine, but after the Russian invasions, it moved out of priority. More than 300 students were rescued at the time of the war.
It is only the Kashmir region that is taking the foreign route for medical education. Basharat said that from the Jammu region, hardly 50 students opt for MBBS abroad. “This has created a situation that Jammu is facing a dearth of medical professionals, especially in the periphery,” he said. “But this is what it is.”
“It is a huge flight of resources,” Ajaz Qayum said. “We may not have exact details about the numbers, but the fact is that people are moving out in hordes and will continue to do so for many years to come.”
“If my assessment is correct, more than 1500 students leave Kashmir every year for medical education, and they fly abroad,” Nasir Khoihami, Kashmir’s student activist, said. “Right now, we have 3500 students studying MBBS in Bangladesh, 1300 in Iran, 2000 in China, and 200 in Ukraine.”
Usually, an MBBS degree from abroad starts with an investment of US$ 45,000, which can go up to US$ 55,000 (a dollar is worth Rs 82, right now), depending on the rating of the college. Within India, it is double and in certain colleges, more than that. Basic calculations suggest that Kashmir witnesses a capital flight of Rs 500 crore a year for medical education alone. “In the only private medical college in Jammu and Kashmir, a seat sells at Rs 1.10 crore,” a communication professional, whose sister graduated from the college, said.
Frequent Rescues
For education, business and jobs, Kashmiris are so dispersed across the globe that every time some part of the world has a serious crisis, protests march on Srinagar streets to seek rescue. In the last two years, the government told the parliament in December 2024, 138 residents from Jammu and Kashmir were rescued from offshore destinations. But that is a conservative guess. It is much more.
It was a huge crisis in Jammu and Kashmir when, in March 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine. Not many people knew that Kashmir had more than 200 students pursuing MBBS in different medical schools in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Vinnytsia. It took some time for the parents of these students to organise and seek rescue. They were fortunate because there were nearly 15000 students from across India enrolled in different medical colleges, there. This movement pushed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to get into quick rescue mode and get its nationals back.
After they returned home, a new situation emerged. As the war continued, the students launched a campaign to continue their studies in India. Reports appearing in newspapers suggest that of the 18000 India medical students who were enrolled in Ukraine, 3000 returned to war-torn country and completed their studies; almost a 1000 reappeared for NEET afresh and secured their seats within India, a section relocated to other colleges abroad and nothing much happened in case of more than 11000 aspiring doctors.
Before the Ukraine war, there was a major worldwide rescue operation launched by the Government of India to fly people to the quarantine centres back home at the peak of Covid19 pandemic.
New Delhi made a lot of efforts to rescue its nationals from Gaza as it was attacked by Tel Aviv in October 2023. Among those was a Kashmiri woman, who was somehow relocated to Egypt and finally flown home.
In May 2024, dozens of Kashmiri students studying in Kyrgyzstan returned home after violent mob attacks in Bishkek targeted foreign students, including those from India and Pakistan. Several students were injured, and threatening messages circulated, urging non-natives to leave. The unrest triggered panic among families and student groups, with Indian student organisations demanding urgent evacuation.
In July 2024, when Bangladesh started boiling in the student unrest, which eventually led to the regime change, 3500 Kashmiri students were caught in a life-threatening crisis. As pressures mounted, the Government of India repeated the drill, flying people home.
This time, when Israel finally invaded Iran, it emerged as a major crisis, as more than 3000 students were caught. With air spaces closed on all sides, it emerged as a real major challenge for the Government of India to rescue the students. The process, however, has started, and more than 90 students have reached Delhi after being rescued through Armenia. Now, Mashhad airport has been opened for India for rescue.
Closing Windows
But the Iran rescue might be the last major crowd that Delhi is attempting to fly to Kashmir from Iran. The Iranian medical schools, according to the people who know the developments, are not following the NMC norms. “Most of the students who were enrolled in Iran after the last NMC notification will face serious issues while appearing for the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), a prerequisite to practice in India. The word has spread,” one educational consultancy operator said, and most of the genuine consultancies have closed the Iran window. “The numbers are otherwise dropping even though the costs of having an MBBS in Iran were less than one-fourth in a better Indian college.”
Earlier, the Government of India took the security route to close the Pakistan window for medical education. In 2021, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir Police filed its first charge sheet in a case alleging the sale of MBBS seats in Pakistan to Kashmiri students. The charge sheet, filed before a special NIA court in Srinagar, named nine accused. Terming the accused a “criminal network”, the agency alleged that they were selling MBBS seats in Pakistan, particularly to the relatives of slain militants, at rates ranging from Rs 10 to 12 lakh per seat. The proceeds from this racket, it alleged, were funnelled into fuelling unrest in Kashmir. There were arrests as well.
In a parallel development, an advisory was issued by the NMC on April 28, 2022, barring Indian nationals and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) from seeking employment or pursuing higher education in India with medical degrees from Pakistan. Only those enrolled before December 2018, or those who secured prior security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), were deemed eligible to sit for FMGE. The government refused to reconsider the advisory, despite some Kashmir politicians arguing that it was hitting more female students from Kashmir.
Reports appearing in the media suggested that nearly 700 Kashmiris were pursuing MBBS in Pakistan at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the number of students who have MBBS degrees from Pakistan could be in a few thousand, reports indicate that 256 students, including 155 women, have received their MBBS between 2014 and 2018 from Pakistan, and are yet to be recognised as doctors in India.
Some students abandoned their studies. Most of them are sitting idle at home and doing nothing. A few women have married non-natives and settled far away in distant lands so that they can practice what they were trained for. This marked the closure of a window that operated within the defunct SAARC.
Myopic Leadership
The massive gap in demand and supply tells the story of how badly the politicians in Jammu and Kashmir have been working over the decades. Barring the GMC Srinagar that started during the Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad era and the GMC Jammu later in the Congress period, no politician in Jammu and Kashmir thought of encouraging any investment in the medical education sector.
All efforts in this direction were scuttled. Before militancy broke out in Kashmir, a private trust started Jhelum Valley Medical College (JVC). It remained struggling for years as the government avoided encouraging or helping it in getting the mandatory clearances. After the takeoff of the Hurriyat as the new master of Kashmir, it ensured that the JVC, like the Muslim Auqaf Trust, was taken over. Though it had a hospital, it operated for several years without NMC recognition.
In 1998, faced with mounting student anxieties and institutional stagnation, the Farooq Abdullah-led state government intervened. The college was taken over by the state and integrated into the public health education system by affiliating it with SKIMS Soura. It is now a good hospital and equally a good medical college.
Within a few months of the return of civilian government in 1996, a well-connected political family started a medical college by pooling resources within Srinagar. It was a partnership initiative. The political class was so hurt over the initiative that a series of controversies were generated to the extent that it closed its shutters, well before it could start. It was never the case with Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences (ASCOMS) in Jammu, which emerged as one of the best medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir’s private sector. Most of its initial investments came from its property income from Srinagar.
Insiders believe that the myopic leadership of Jammu and Kashmir is solely responsible for preventing the establishment of professional education in the private sector. Kashmir is believed to be an ideal place for education, but it was encouraged only when the political class saw its pie in it. It was visible in the BEd chain of colleges, which are owned mostly by politicians. They discouraged initiatives, and the case of SSM College is one such instance.
Better Late Than Never
In the last few years, Jammu and Kashmir saw the emergence of almost 10 additional colleges and the seats has improved to 1285. The expansion in the college network is a policy shift at the national level. In 2014, India had only 51000 MBBS seats in 387 colleges. In 2025, there are 118190 seats available across 780 medical colleges.
Given the fact that certain colleges in Jammu and Kashmir’s GMC network have a prefixed quota for non-natives, the state subjects are admitted to other colleges in the plains as well. Authorities are making efforts to add another 400 seats to these colleges. This, however, is not enough for managing demand and taking the requirements of the erstwhile state seriously.
In March 2019, the State Health Care Investment Policy-2019 was unveiled. Aimed at boosting private healthcare infrastructure, the policy offered capital subsidies, interest subventions, subsidised utilities, and land at concessional rates. Key incentives include a 30 per cent capital investment subsidy (up to Rs 5 crore), 5 per cent annual interest subsidy on term loans (capped at Rs 15 lakh/year for five years), subsidised power tariffs, 100 per cent subsidy on DG sets (up to Rs 45 lakh), and training support for staff.
Eligible projects include multi- and super-speciality hospitals, medical and nursing colleges, with land allotment through SIDCO and SICOP or at token rates for institutions set up outside municipal limits. Minimum investment thresholds were set at Rs 80 crore for 200-bed hospitals and Rs 200 crore for 500-bed or medical colleges, to be achieved within five years. The investors were promised a single-window clearance system. The policy envisaged the creation of Medical Cities to promote medical tourism.
In Srinagar, some of the best hospitals are working in the private sector. Khyber Super-Speciality Hospital, Shifa Hospital, Citi Hospital, Modern Hospital, Medicare, Sheikh-ul-Aalam Hospital, Noora Hospital and the Paras Hospital – all have enough bed strength to start a nursing and a medical college. Why can they not be roped in by the Omar Abdullah government and encouraged to invest in medical education?
Kashmir alone witnesses capital flights of Rs 500 crore a year. A medical college can be established within Rs 200 crore. Is anybody listening?