In India, unemployment among medical graduates is becoming a pressing concern. By 2025, an estimated 1.5 lakh junior doctors may remain without stable jobs due to limited government positions.
In states like Maharashtra, even postgraduate-qualified doctors are facing 3–4 months of unemployment because the number of senior residency seats is far fewer than the number of eligible candidates. This delay not only wastes skilled manpower but also affects healthcare delivery in underserved areas.
What changes in policy or infrastructure could help ensure timely employment for newly graduated doctors in India?
I think building more hospitals as well as healthcare centers in semi-urban and rural areas would create jobs and improve access to care. At the same time, regulating internship stipends and setting minimum pay standards could prevent situations like in Bangalore, where the abundance of medical colleges and hospitals has driven stipends down.
The government could work on schemes where there is a private-govt hospital collaboration and offer grants/ perks to train new doctors who train in departments with a smaller workforce. As a developing country, India should create enough jobs for doctors. The current crisis deserves urgent attention.
This is a rising concern with increasing unemployed doctors having proper medical education…. As far as less infrastructures and less hospital is a reason for this, another reason is reservation that takes spots in neet PG and other professionals exams …
Lack of opportunities with the both the reasons going hand in hand could be the cause of current situation of unemployment in medical field…
More healthcare facilities should start functioning in rural and remote areas. There are still so many areas devoid of basic healthcare facilities in India. Doctors should also be willing to do rural service.. doctors are not just needed in cities and urban areas. Their service is needed in Rural areas too.
Unemployment among india ‘s young doctors is the major problem facing this can be resolved by the by increasing construction of hospital in rural areas and urban areas . Retirement of the senior doctors should be made early to increase the employment for the young doctors
Maybe a government policy/regulation has to be in place through which every new doctor can be accommodated (on a salary structure/pay scale system) to places where there’s existing vacancy or scarcity like health centers in rural areas, hospitals with inadequate medical staffs, any disease research labs etc. This may probably stop the long waiting period after graduation and replace it with a useful exposure, something that can get counted later on when they gradually apply for specialist training based upon their service-place of interest and where there’s vacancy. This way, the young doctors will not lose time in their career path and it can also improve their selection chances for competitive PG courses with a distinct understanding of the ongoing healthcare needs.
Government should increased medical doctor positions in government schemes and upgrade district hospitals into teaching hospitals. Government should increase posts for MBBS doctors.
Government also increase in other Medical fields like nursing, physiotherapy, BDS BAMS doctors and also increase incentives
I think increasing the posts in public hospitals and recruitment after the exams on time would help. A good management system where not much delays take place. Another could be good pay for doctors working in the rural parts of the country.
It’s a massive waste of talent and hurts healthcare, especially when India is dealing with a shortage of skilled healthcare workers in rural India. So many doctors are trained without any job security. Key solutions include controlling medical seat numbers, regularizing college permissions, balancing UG-PG seat ratios, and adding career counselling and placement programs.
Unemployment among doctors, particularly young practitioners, appears to be on the rise due to multiple factors. A significant issue is the limited trust placed in fresh graduates, which often prevents them from being given adequate opportunities to demonstrate their skills in clinical settings. Additionally, the rapid increase in the number of private medical colleges in India has led to a higher supply of medical graduates, intensifying competition for limited positions. Another contributing factor is the reluctance of many doctors to work in rural or underserved areas, where healthcare infrastructure and resources are often inadequate. This combination of oversupply, underutilisation of young talent, and uneven distribution of the medical workforce is creating a challenging employment landscape for new doctors in the country.
Rising unemployment among medical graduates its a real concern and government should really look after it . The main stream in healthcare remain unemployed then what would be the condition of healthcare system in India .They should post the doctors more in the rural are their is a much need of them , some villages even don’t have the hospital , basic healthcare facilities .Posting unemployed doctors to these regions could improve healthcare access and reduce the urban --rural gap . After all , without accessible and affordable healthcare , how can we even dream of providing world – class treatment .
This is a serious issue. So many skilled doctors waiting for jobs while patients in rural areas still lack care it doesn’t make sense. I think increasing senior residency seats and improving rural healthcare infrastructure could help. Government hospitals need better planning to absorb new graduates. Also, public-private partnerships might create more job opportunities.
To ensure timely employment for newly graduated doctors in India, policies should focus on increasing the number of postgraduate (PG) seats to match the growing number of MBBS graduates. Expanding public healthcare infrastructure, especially in rural and underserved areas, can create more job opportunities. Implementing a transparent and regular recruitment process through centralized portals will streamline hiring. Introducing mandatory rural service with proper incentives can also address doctor shortages while providing employment. Additionally, partnerships with private hospitals and better career counseling during MBBS can help graduates transition smoothly into the workforce.
I thinks the indian government shoucd improve the phc and healthcare centre’s on the rural area because there is lot of patients flow there who needs to get treatment rapidly to recover from the illness. In remote area also like the forest and the isolated settlement of the people in mountain should receive “Mobile check up van “ once in a week or twice to serve them.
Better distribution of doctors to rural and underserved areas, expanding residency seats, and creating more government-funded posts could ease this gap. Strengthening public healthcare infrastructure would also generate sustainable opportunities while improving access for patients.
