Centre relaxes NCAHP rules, allows admission to all 4,080 physiotherapy seats in state

With the relaxation, admissions can now be conducted to all 6,930 physiotherapy seats available across 119 colleges in the state

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has cleared the way for admission to 4,080 physiotherapy seats in government and aided colleges for the academic year 2026-27 after the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP), a statutory body under the central government’s ministry of health and family welfare, agreed to relax its new rules for this year. The decision will bring relief to thousands of students who were worried after these seats were left out of the centralised admission process conducted by the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell.

Centre relaxes NCAHP rules, allows admission to all 4,080 physiotherapy seats in state

With the relaxation, admissions can now be conducted to all 6,930 physiotherapy seats available across 119 colleges in the state. Of these, admissions were already underway for 2,850 seats in 39 private colleges. The remaining 4,080 seats in government and aided colleges were affected by the new rules, which mandated that a college must have a minimum of 50 seats in a physiotherapy course and a maximum of 200. Currently, many government colleges have less than 20 or 30 seats. NCAHP had fixed its criterion based on the demand for physiotherapists in the market.

The admissions issue arose after the CET Cell published its seat matrix on September 27. It did not include several government and aided colleges, leading to concern and questions among students. The Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik (MUHS), under which all the physiotherapy seats come, also sought directions from the government on the admission process following the new NCAHP requirements.

The state government, which had promised to resolve the issue, told the Centre that the approval process for seats for the current academic year had begun in October 2025 before the new requirements were received. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and medical education minister Hasan Mushrif also pointed out that the admission deadline was October 31, leaving limited time to complete the centralised admission rounds. Finally, the Centre agreed to allow admissions based on the intake capacity previously approved by MUHS.

Under the latest directions, MUHS will provide a college-wise list of existing colleges whose approved intake does not exceed the maximum limit set by NCAHP. The CET Cell will then include the eligible seats in the admission process.