I read an interesting post at the facebook time wall of Dr Atul Agarwal (a senior pediatrician from Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. The post argues that first it was B Tech, then BDS and now MBBS bubble is also about to collapse in India.
The initial part of the post says:
Let’s stop pretending.
BTech collapsed first.
Engineering colleges mushroomed everywhere.
Every village had a “Tech Institute.”
Parents paid lakhs…
Students came out earning less than a delivery boy in many cases.
Then BDS collapsed.
Private colleges multiplied.
Clinics opened every 200 metres.
Competition exploded.
Fresh dentists were ready to work for ₹8,000 just to “gain experience.”
Those who paid ₹15–25 lakh fees never recovered a penny.
⸻
And now… the final bubble is bursting: MBBS.
For decades, MBBS lived on prestige, fear, and mythology:
• “Doctor kabhi berozgaar nahi hota.”
• “MBBS is always in demand.”
• “Private seat le lo, future safe hai.”
I think India has huge shortage of doctors, lack of access to medical/ health is a real pain. And then a huge load of human mass to treat.
Honestly, I feel the issue isn’t a “MBBS bubble” but a system problem. India still has a huge doctor shortage just poor planning, uneven job opportunities and low pay in many setups. The demand is there; it’s the support and structure that’s failing.
This post raises an important and uncomfortable reality. While India indeed faces a huge shortage of doctors at the public-health and rural level, the crisis is not in lack of jobs, but in mismatch between supply, expectations, and system structure. The explosion of private colleges, high fees, commercialization of education, oversupply in urban pockets, and limited postgraduate seats have created intense competition and underemployment—just as happened in BTech and BDS. At the same time, primary healthcare centres, rural hospitals, and public systems remain understaffed and under-resourced. The problem is not “too many doctors,” but misdistribution, poor planning, and lack of supportive infrastructure. Reform is essential, not blame.
I think the demand for MBBS doctors is still high, but their expectations often don’t match the available opportunities, such as working in rural areas, lower salaries, limited job security, and poor work–life balance. As a result of this mismatch, many doctors are forced to take up non-clinical roles or pursue higher degrees to meet their expectations.
This perspective highlights real concerns about oversupply in certain regions and the commercialization of education, but it doesn’t capture the full picture. India still faces a significant doctor-population gap, especially in rural and underserved areas. The issue isn’t that MBBS is “collapsing,” but that poor distribution, rising private college fees, and limited postgraduate seats create imbalance and frustration for young doctors. The healthcare system needs reforms, not fewer doctors.
Yes, the patient-to-doctor ratio in India is very low. Many Doctors in India prefer to go to the US, UK or Canada. After years of hard work and struggle, they expect good pay, work-life balance and a healthy work environment, which are apparently difficult to expect in India. These factors have lead to a lack of skilled and experienced doctors in the country
MBBS today feels like a balloon stretched too thin- shiny from the outside but fragile and quietly cracking within. For years, society has glorified the degree, convincing students and parents that medicine is the ultimate symbol of security, success, and respect. Even when the other careers were taking the hit, medical careers stayed strong. This belief fuels an ever-growing inflow of students, even when everyone is fully aware of the unequal pay, toxic work culture, limited PG seats, and worsening job opportunities. The tragedy is that our system keeps expanding the entrances without creating enough valuable exits, leaving young doctors strapped in a maze where their choices shrink and their burnouts grow. There are a number of doctors that sit at home after completion of MBBS as compared to the number of doctors that actually go in to the field and work. Parents are spending lakhs and crores to get their kids into this field, but I don’t think it’s a good ROI, considering the low pay and the lack of opportunities these days.
Hospitals are under-resourced, seniors are overworked and often passing their frustrations downwards, and the environment in many institutions is discouraging to the point that students are either walking away from the profession or losing themselves entirely.
The glamour people imagine doesn’t match the ground reality anymore. The charm and dignity attached to the medicine are fading as the system struggles to absorb the number of doctors. And when a profession becomes overcrowded, undervalued, and emotionally exhausting, the pressure will inevitably build inside until the bubble bursts. The question isn’t whether it will burst, rather it’s how long the system can stretch before it finally gives way.
Even though india lacks a huge number of doctors, there are still so many doctors that are unemployed…. Reason points to the unemployment ratio of India and lack of proper wages and proper respect.
Not only MBBS, rather all the professional course and degrees are collapsing because of this sole reason of lack of job vacancies…. And it all beaks down to the part where the companies or the hospital branches are not ready to pay extra for new doctors and hence, the working doctors are overloaded with work and the new medical graduates are unemployed.