MBBS :- Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, a degree of 5.5 years duration.
There are a lot of career options after MBBS and a proper knowledge of all the options available to a MBBS doctor will help him guide through his/her post graduate life and reduce confusion associated with the dilemma associated with choosing different career paths. MBBS courses are offered in various Medical Colleges of India and the world for that matter, both private and government colleges. The candidate has to clear NEET UG exam in order to get admission in any of the above colleges. Admission in government colleges is especially difficult because of very tight competition while in private colleges, one can have admission by paying the requisite amount of fee and/or donation.
During the course of MBBS one has to go through a number of examinations, practical vivas and clinical rotatory duties in order to pursue the skills necessary to become a doctor.
One year compulsory rotatory internship along with academics of 4.5 years makes a student capable of dealing with common diseases and disorders prevalent in the community.
Though MBBS is a great great professional course which empowers a person to contribute a lot into the society, still a person should know other career options and opportunities which fit better to his/her personality.
I have compiled a list of 12 options which can be considered for a career option after MBBS.
Career options after MBBS are as follows:-
1. Post Graduation in Medicine fields aka Specialisation:- This is by far the best career option after MBBS and suits well for born doctors. It is so very common and popular practice to do specialisation that students start preparing for Post Graduation entrance exams right from third year in a full blown manner.
Moreover, need of the time also demands specialisation in a certain medical or surgical fields because of increasing knowledge and depth of understanding of medical field.
Specialisation options after MBBS in medicine fields:-
Degree courses after MBBS:-
- MS in Anatomy
- MD in Physiology
- MD in Biochemistry
- MD in Pathology
- MD in Pharmacology
- MD in Microbiology
- MD in Forensic Medicine
- MS ENT
- MS Ophthalmology
- MD in Community Medicine
- MD in Medicine/ General Medicine or Internal Medicine
- MD in Pediatrics
- MD/MS in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- MS in General Surgery
- MS in Orthopedics
- MD in Dermatology
- MD in Radiology
- MD in Anaesthesiology
- MD in Psychiatry
Diploma courses after MBBS:-
- Diploma in Health Education
- Diploma or Masters (MS) in Occupational Health
- Diploma in Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Diploma in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
- Diploma or MS in Sports Medicine
- Diploma or MS in Immunohematology
- Diploma or MS in Pathology
- Diploma in Pediatrics
- Diploma in Nuclear medicine
- Diploma in Psychiatry
- Diploma in Radiotherapy
Administrative courses after MBBS:-
- MBA in any field related to healthcare
- MBA in Hospital Administration
- MBA in Healthcare Management
- MBA in Public Health
Masters in Medical Sciences and Technology:-
- Translational Medicine
- Molecular Imaging and Image Analysis
- Regenerative Medicine
- Nanomedicine
- Medical Imaging
- Biomaterials and Implants
- Medical Statistics
- Telemedicine
- Stem Cells
- Biomedical Instrumentation
- Clinical Biomarkers
- Immuno-technology
- Recombinant DNA Technology
- Biosensors
- Early Detection of Cancer
- Cancer Biology
- Biomedical Simulation
2. Hospital Administration
- Hospital Administration is one of the most lucrative jobs which is very well suited for elderly doctors and young doctors also who want some administrative taste. Since, doctors will serve to be the most appropriate personnel for this kind of job because they have the knowledge of healthcare, clinical medicine as well as administration as far as a hospital is concerned.
- Those doctors who are good a leading a team and are interested in administration, controlling and moderating a situation are best suited for this job.
- Moreover, because of tight competition in clinical setup and serving the community many doctors are already doing MBA from prestigious institutes of the country to shift away from the mainstream and competition to have better opportunities of employment.
3. Professorship:-
- Doctors are good students and good teachers as well. As a part of the professional requirement, doctors spend most of their time in reading, be it basic concepts or advanced reading which makes a doctor student for the entire life.
- A little training and mentorship will be required by a doctor to become a successful teacher.
- Being a teacher is a noble profession to opt. It has some perks also like one can become a professor as well as teacher at the same time in a government or private medical college.
- In this world of digital marketing, a doctor can create his or her own lectures and give paid subscriptions on various platforms like unacademy, udemy etc.
- Moreover, in my experience I have seen that professors are better doctors because they are always in touch with the newer updates and repetition and revision of the knowledge.
- It will help you earn a handsome amount of money both in India as well as abroad.
4. Medico-legal advisor:-
- MLA or Medico legal Advisor is a healthcare professional who has deep knowledge of medicine as well as legal aspect of medicine.
- Medicolegal considerations are a significant part of the process of making many patient care decisions and determining definitions and policies for the treatment of mentally incompetent people and minors, the performance of sterilization or therapeutic abortion, and the care of terminally ill patients.
- You can earn a lot if you hold a good knowledge about the subject and if you are able to give your expert opinion in the court of law.
- One can work as an assistant to a Medico Legal lawer or do MD in Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. After you have gained an experience of fifteen years or so, you can give your opinion as an expert witness in the court of law.
- You can also join some corporate hospital but now-a-days they already employ a Medico Legal expert lawyer.
- Now-a-days, medico legal cases are increasing more and more in number and this field seems a lot more lucrative. MLA will definitely earn a lot of money in coming future because of growing awareness among the community about the legal aspects associated with patient care.
5. Civil Services:-
Civil Services Examination, one of the toughest examination in India and the world overall, with clearance rate of <0.1 percent is also one of the career options after MBBS if a person wants to serve the nation by being a part of the government machinery.
UPSC i.e, Union Public Service Commission is the agency which conducts the CSE i.e, Civil Services Examination every year. More than 10 lac aspirants apply for the examination and more than 4 lac aspirants appear for the preliminary examination held in June every year.
The examination takes more than a year to complete itself as it has three parts – The preliminary exam, Mains exam and the personality test.
Once the aspirant clears all the stages,he/she is recruites for training at mysore i.e,LBSNAA.
After a training of two years or so there at the institute, the recruit joins the duty in the allotted cadre.
The various services which are given to the UPSC CSE pass outs are – IAS, IPS, IFoS, IFS, IRS etc. among a total of 26 services.
UPSC also conducts a exam for services for doctors separately under the title of UPSC CMS i.e, Union Public Service Commission Combined Medical Services for granting sevice to the candidates for the officer ranks in the Healthcare Department.
The requirement for CSE is graduation in any field and requirement for CMS is MBBS.
So, CSE and CMS are the examinations which can be tried by MBBS graduates.
6. Medical Journalism:-
Medical Journalism is one field which is very subjective for a MBBS graduate because one has to be very passionate for writing about medical sector, about healthcare, diseases and conditions in order to establish a name in this field.
MBBS doctors will definitely hace an upper hand in the field of journalism because other journalists come from sociology, economics and other humanity backgrounds and they do not possess thorough knowledge about medicine and healthcare field.
Doctors can write better any day when compared to the journalists from other fields because journalism is a very broad topic.
As a medical writer, one can work in academics, healthcare products manufacturing industry (medical devices, pharmaceuticals, etc.), news organizations, government, or for yourself in the form of a blog. You can write manuscripts, reports on clinical trials, news articles, regulatory submissions, meeting abstracts, patient education materials, and blog articles to be published on your own personal website or for some other website.
I, myself have created this website for the purpose of blogging. I write articles whenever I get time and find a topic to write on which has a good value for the people who read it.
7. Enterpreneurship:-
Being an entrepreneur is full of risks and hard work for unknown period of time. It involves uncertainty regarding funds, time and resources of yourself as well as of the people who work along with you.
Many doctors now-a-days are going to business schools for learning new skills and fing opportunities for growing up in the world and successful entrepreneurs.
If a business model in the field of healthcare succeeds, it will bring a lot of wealth to the person and also provide employment and opportunities in the same locality of the business setup.
So, entrepreneurs not only take care of themselves, but they also create employment and create opportunities for the growth of the society and country as well.
Some of the famous doctor entrepreneurs are – Dr. Devi Shetty, Dr. Naresh Trehan, Dr. Tushar Mehta, Dr. Mukesh bhatia, Dr. Sumer Sethi to name a few.
They are all famous and successful entrepreneurs in the country who are contributing their immense valuable efforts to the country.
8. Pharmaceutical Researcher:-
A pharmaceutical researcher is a professional who works with pharma companies and carry out clinical trials of newer drugs on healthy people and patients.
Pharmaceutical industry is an ever changing industry and the researcher has to be updated with the latest knowledge of the field.
Various drugs are compared with each other regarding their biological effects and side effects and adverse reactions in different indiviuals.
After collecting the effects and data of the drugs, the statistical part of the researcher comes into play in which the researcher proves that whether the new drug is better than the older drugs or not better than the older drug on the basis of the collected data.
Translational Medicine or Translational Research is also a great career path for MBBS graduates who wish to combine lab/bench research and clinical duties.
9. State Medical Services:-
After MBBS, government jobs in health sector allow you to work in state medical services with a handsome amount of salary in most states and a reasonable salary in other states. State government usually posts these MBBS doctors in various rural Primary Health Centres (PHCs) for some time and then posts them in urban centres like CHCs and district hospitals.
One more benefit of these State Medical Services is that these MBBS graduates when serve the country for a certain period (3-6 years) depending upon states, are give a certain privilege in PG courses admission.
For example, in Punjab, if a doctor serves the state for a period of minimum three years in rural areas and for a minimum of 6 years in urban areas, are given 30% bonus marks in NEET PG above the actual marks scored by the candidate.
This pushes the rank of the candidate quite a lot.
10. USMLE/PLAB/AMC:-
If a graduate doctor from India wishes to pursue further education in other countries like America, England or Australia, he/she can apply for Post Graduation in these countries only after passing their licentiate exams i.e,
USMLE for America and Canada.
PLAB for Britain.
AMC for Australia.
These exams are a must to practice medicine and to study further in the field of medicine in these countries.
The salary given to doctors in these countries is much higher when compared to India.
11. Diplomate in National Board or DNB:-
DNB is a good option for those who could not get a good enough rank in NEET PG so as to get the branch of their choice.
DNB seats are available in private hospitals mostly but a few government hospitals are also providing these seats.
Though, DNB is considered equivalent to MD/MS but still there is a long time to go before these alternatives get equality and pursuing a DNB is still a stigma to a certain extent in India.
Training in DNB is considered good in private hospitals in Medical fields and is considered poorer than MS when it comes to surgical branches.
Passing rate of DNB students from private hospitals is very low and it further depends on the hospital.
Moreover, hospitals employ MD/MS people over DNBs for healthcare services and also medical colleges also do not have posts for DNBs.
These are a few pros and cons of DNB career option after MBBS.
12. MSc or Masters in Science:-
Honestly speaking, I was literally surprised when I heared that we can do MSc after MBBS, I mean why would someone be doing MSc after MBBS.
But yes, doing an M.Sc after MBBS is another option.
MBBS graduates can take up a Masters degree in any of the following fields mentioned below:
- Aerospace Medicine,
- Anatomy,
- Anesthesia,
- Biochemistry,
- Dermatology, Venereology & Leprosy,
- Forensic Medicine,
- Geriatrics,
- ENT and many more
So, MBBS is a master key kind of professional degree course which opens ways for many other opportunities.
Long story short, MBBS is a great great professional course which gives a number of opportunities to use the skills acquired during a 5.5 years duration.
So, I have compiled a list of 12 options which can be considered for a career option after MBBS.