“Don’t pursue MBBS, it’s a professional death trap,” wrote Dr. Jaison Philip, a urologist at the Government Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital and Madras Medical College (MMC), Chennai, in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter). His words reflect a deepening crisis in India’s medical education and healthcare system.
Even premier institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have witnessed an exodus of doctors, signalling growing disillusionment within the profession. For many, the once-aspirational dream of donning the white coat is fast becoming a burden.
This raises urgent questions: Why are doctors turning away from AIIMS and other reputed institutes in such large numbers? Has the medical profession itself become a dead end rather than a path to respect and purpose? And what does this mean for India’s healthcare system and the next generation of medical students?
The AIIMS exodus in the spotlight
According to government data shared in Parliament, 429 doctors resigned from 20 AIIMS institutes between 2022 and 2024 alone. As noted by a Times of India (TOI) report, AIIMS Delhi saw the highest number of resignations (52), followed by Rishikesh (38), Raipur (35), Bilaspur (32), and Mangalagiri (30).
Speaking to EdexLive, Dr Jaison Philip says, "People are now flocking to private institutions, leaving reputed ones like AIIMS, because of low salaries offered by public medical institutions, poor working conditions, and frequent assaults on doctors."
Dr Suvrankar Datta, former President of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), calls these mass resignations from prestigious medical institutions, like the AIIMS, a result of structural failures.
“Those who left are the ones who are in senior positions. Change in norms and workplace culture that is not conducive to researchers and faculty. They are not able to align with the changing workplace demands to the fullest of their abilities,” he says.
An issue beyond AIIMS
Reflecting on his early career, Dr Philip said that when he completed his MBBS in the mid-90s, the degree was highly valued, with hospitals sending him letters inviting him to join as a duty doctor for a salary of Rs 8,000 a month. Today, he notes, even a salary of Rs 15,000–20,000 is nowhere near enough to support a family.
Unfortunately, today, interns at private colleges across the country are fighting for fair compensation, struggling with just Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000 per month, and others lagging even behind.
Speaking of the state of affairs in his own state, Dr Philip says, "Despite having the highest number of medical colleges in the country, Tamil Nadu pays the lowest salaries to government doctors."
He draws attention to the plight of medical institutions in Chennai. "Hospitals even compel the doctors to join them for a meagre salary of Rs 20,000, or recruit Siddha or Ayurveda or Homoeopathy doctors, who are often paid just Rs 8,000 to 10,000 per month,” he said.
"The salary issue affects not just MBBS but also MDs. Even MD graduates are paid only Rs 60,000-70,000 in government institutions,” he added.
Malpractices that rival Munna Bhai, doctors allege
Another issue medical professionals point at is the unchecked mushrooming of private medical institutions in the country.
They say that private or corporate interests often come into conflict with equity, accessibility, cost, and the quality of healthcare.
Dr Philip alleges that malpractices during physical inspections of the National Medical Commission (NMC) in these private medical colleges have become an open secret within the medical community.
"Once, during an inspection, a medical professor I know, who was called to inspect a medical college, found that it didn't even have a lab. When he objected to giving a positive rating, he got a call from an influential figure, asking him to change his stance," he recounts.
He further alleges to being offered bribes and witnessing fraudulent practices during inspection. "Inspectors, including myself, get offers of lakhs to sign certificates. Some colleges even put unqualified people in white coats to pose as doctors during inspections," he narrates, adding that these practices are so ridiculous that they seem ripped straight from movies.
"Examiners are bribed with money, alcohol, and five-star accommodation to pass students," he further alleges.
Further, private colleges have become "MD-churning machines", notes Dr Philip.
Due to these practices to influence ratings and show "good metrics", private medical institutions often compromise healthcare quality.
However, these stories of compromises do not end there. Dr Dilip Bhanushali, President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), told EdexLive that even the government is in a frenzied competition to set up more medical colleges.
"The government is turning a blind eye towards the standard of teaching, medical care, and infrastructure. It seems as if quantity is the priority, not quality," he notes.
Safety of doctors is heavily compromised
In addition to pay gaps and structural issues, doctors are facing a deeper problem. The respect once associated with the profession is fading, and this is clearly visible in the rise of violence against them.
“Violence against doctors happens every day, yet there is no specific law to protect us,” says Dr. Bhanushali. “Medicine was once a noble profession. Today, the trust between doctors and patients is breaking down because healthcare has become heavily commercialised.”
The rat-race to success
After years of preparing for entrance exams, studying and internships, young medical graduates struggle to find employment.
With inadequate salaries and a lack of job or personal security in the professions, they are rendered hopeless and burnt out.
"Fresh medical graduates of the country are disillusioned,” notes Dr Bhanushali.
"After spending years through the long and demanding journey of gaining medical education, from MBBS and MD through residency, they find that even this experience is inadequate. They must settle for underpaying internships for another couple of years, and survive on meagre salaries," he explains.
This pressure to find employment also hinders their education, medical professionals argue.
"Students focus more on securing a PG seat right from their first year of MBBS, often at the expense of developing essential clinical skills,” notes Dr Datta, highlighting the height of stress in students to survive in a competitive environment and land their dream career.
Vacant posts, outdated curriculum, and the missing AI push
From understaffed medical institutions and an outdated curriculum, to incompetent medical training, under-allocation of funds, and laxity in keeping pace with emerging technologies, the very foundations of medicine in India have rather alarming lacunae.
Additionally, as pointed out by TOI, nearly one-third of faculty positions across AIIMS are vacant.
Repeated reassurances from the government have yielded no results so far, notes Dr Bhanushali. "While there should have been an allocation of 5 per cent of GDP on healthcare, it is a mere 1.9 per cent now,” he laments.
To tackle faculty shortages, medical institutions are hiring visiting faculty and extending the retirement age of professors. However, these are also not sustainable in the long run, Dr Datta argues.
Furthermore, the medical curriculum and training in India is severely outdated, he points out. "Students have to depend heavily on online coaching. Except for a few exceptions in states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan, efforts to adapt to emerging technologies like AI are also not yet reflected in actual training."
Reality of opportunities overseas
Studying abroad is a dream that is mostly heavy on the pocket, and a distant dream that a huge chunk of medical aspirants cannot afford. The geopolitical turmoil and restrictive immigration policies further fuel this uncertainty, even if one is interested in looking for opportunities in the US or the UK.
Giving a pessimistic portrayal of study abroad options, Dr Philip says, "Even the opportunities are limited in Arab countries. They mostly prefer 'white' doctors, who have earned their degrees from the West. This deep-rooted racism cannot be ignored."
Medical profession in India — Lost glory?
"MBBS is no longer as attractive a degree as it used to be at one point in time," says Dr Datta. "India needs more residents than graduates. In the West, residents outnumber graduates and they have specialised doctors,” he added.
According to him, five years down the line, with AI taking over, the generalist paradigm will lose its sheen, and it will be specialists who will be catering to the large number of patients with the help of AI. "India has to be ready with a specialist workforce by the time the AI wave gains momentum,” he noted.
Like an assembly line, India keeps producing doctors in thousands, but whether it can promise them dignity and direction, or just disillusionment, remains unanswered. How many futures have to be left at stake and how many promises have to be forgone before this broken system is mended? One has to wait and see.
