Half of Maharashtra homeopathy colleges have political links

Out of 72 private homeopathy medical colleges in Maharashtra, at least 34 (47%) are established by trusts or societies that have political connections cutting across party lines. These colleges with strong political connections account for almost 3,000 seats, or about half of the total homeopathy seats in the state.The latest data on status of permission/denial for the academic year 2026-27 as on August 3 put out by National Commission for Homeopathy (NCH) shows 74 homeopathy medical colleges -- including two government ones -- with intake capacity of 6,248 seats for graduation in homeopathy.

One of them has only postgraduate seats. Three new colleges were added this year, with 100 seats each, two private and one government college in Kolhapur.List of homeopathy colleges in Maharashtra with political linksThough the number of homeopathy colleges in Maharashtra has increased from 59 colleges with 4,645 undergraduate seats in 2021 to 74 colleges, the seats have increased by less than 140 as many colleges did not get permission for intake in 2026 or had their intake slashed due to infrastructure deficiencies, ghost faculty, forged documents or other violations.For most students, taking admission in an Ayush/homeopathy college is often a second choice or one they are forced to make as they are unable to get admission to an affordable MBBS seat in a government college due their low NEET UG score and because they cannot afford a seat in private colleges with exorbitant fees.

With over 22 lakh students appearing for NEET UG and just over 1.2 lakh MBBS seats there are many students who take the option of homeopathy in the hope of becoming a ‘doctor’ even if that is a homeopathy doctor. They also hope to be allowed to practice some limited form of allopathy officially, something many of them do informally anyway.

They could even get a government job in the public health system by doing the one-year Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP). Many are also employed in modern medicine hospitals, even those owned by members of the Indian Medical Association -- which objects to them being allowed to prescribe allopathic drugs -- as they are far cheaper to hire than MBBS graduates.

In fact, many Ayush colleges are set up by MBBS doctors as a sound business proposition as the investment required to start one is estimated to be about Rs 15 crore if the land acquisition cost is excluded, which is a tenth of what’s needed for an MBBS college.For private homeopathy colleges, the economics will work if they can fill the seats.

That is why they lobby hard and go to court almost every year seeking a lowering of the NEET UG cut-off percentile to fill seats ever since NEET UG became mandatory for admission to Ayush colleges, including homeopathy colleges, in 2018. In 2021-22, the Ayush Ministry reduced the NEET UG percentile criteria by 5% across all categories, lowering General/EWS from the 50th to the 45th percentile, and OBC/SC/ST from the 40th to the 35th percentile.

This was done in 2018-19 too to fill up vacant seats. In Madhya Pradesh, for instance, about 40% seats were vacant in private Ayush colleges in 2018-19 before the percentile cut-off was reduced.Annual tuition fees usually range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh in Maharashtra. Taking an average of Rs 1.5 lakh, a college could collect about Rs 1.2 crore from one batch if the average of 80 seats per college is filled, and about Rs 4.8 crore from four enrolled batches without counting other charges like hostel, mess and exam fees.“Every year, around admission time the government will move the proposal to allow homeopathy graduates to be allowed to prescribe allopathic drugs.

This boosts admissions to these colleges, many of which are run by politically connected people or politicians themselves. If there are no takers for homeopathy, instead of shutting down the substandard ones and discouraging the opening of more colleges, governments allow them to continue because of political pressure,” said a senior member of the Indian Medical Association and a former officer bearer of the Maharashtra Medical Council, which registers and regulates allopathy doctors in Maharashtra.Get the latest India News and Live updates.

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