Ranchi: In a push to medical education in the state, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) in the city has secured approval from the National Medical Commission (NMC) to increase its MBBS intake from 180 to 250 seats, making it the first medical college in the state to reach the 250-seat mark.Rims director Dr D K Sinha said on Wednesday that admissions against the enhanced intake would begin from the current academic session. “NMC approved the increase on Tuesday. Since NEET results are already out and the undergraduate admission process is set to begin, classes for the new batch are likely to start in Aug or Sept,” he said.The approval adds 70 undergraduate seats to the govt-run institute and is expected to open up more opportunities for medical aspirants from Jharkhand while helping the state address its chronic shortage of doctors. Sinha said the institute would also strengthen faculty and upgrade infrastructure to accommodate the larger batch size.“We are planning recruitment of additional faculty members and other infrastructure-related measures so that the increased number of students can be properly accommodated,” Sinha said.The MBBS seat hike comes weeks after the health department asked Rims to prepare a detailed proposal for expanding its academic capacity across undergraduate, postgraduate and super-speciality programmes. TOI had reported on June 10 that the institute had proposed an overall increase of 258 seats, including 70 MBBS seats, 99 postgraduate seats and 89 super-speciality seats.Under the proposal, UG seats were to be raised from 180 to 250, PG seats from 176 to 275 and super-speciality seats from 11 to 100. Sinha said Rims had completed the required groundwork for the proposed increase in PG and super-speciality seats and was awaiting NMC approval.The expansion plan was reviewed by additional chief secretary (health) Ajoy Kumar Singh, who assessed the institute’s infrastructure, faculty strength, hostels, classrooms, laboratories and other resources needed to support the higher intake.Singh said the state was working in phases to increase MBBS and PG seats in govt medical colleges. “In the first phase, MBBS seats at MGM Medical College, Jamshedpur, were increased from 100 to 150. In the second phase, intake at Rims has been raised from 180 to 250,” he said.