What after MBBS?

What after MBBS? - A common cause of dilemma for medicos is that they are unable to answer the question, What after MBBS? Other questions cropping up are what kind of degree or specialization they should pursue after MBBS? Once candidates decide on what to do they still have various sub-questions coming up. The degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) has a lot of career opportunities to offer. These opportunities can be grabbed by medicos on the basis of their interests and life goals.
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In the article below candidates are exposed the wide variety of choices that they can opt for after completing their MBBS degree. This will help them answer their question, What after MBBS?. While a plethora of opportunities exist in terms of higher education, a varied list of opportunities also are available in terms of employment across varied sectors. Health care is one vital sector that is rapidly growing thus bringing in a huge requirement of qualified professionals.

What after MBBS?

Pursuing Higher Studies - The common choice of medicos after completing an MBBS degree is to continue with their higher studies. What is uncommon here is whether they opt for traditional specializations or new age specializations that are still upcoming; whether they wish to pursue their post graduation courses in India or abroad. In the points given below some of these options are specified.

1. Traditional Specializations after MBBS:

Most common choice among candidates, while deciding on what to do after MBBS,is pursuing specialization in their area of interest. At this stage too, medicos' most preferred course is an MD/MS or a Diploma in Medicine. As for India, admissions to MD/MS are conducted through a few common PG entrance exams which include NEET PG, AIIMS PG, JIPMER PG exam and PGIMER. The specializations offered under MD (Doctor of Medicine), MS (Master of Surgery) and other diploma programmes are listed below in the table.

The list of PG Specializations available are as follows

2. Upcoming courses in Medical Sciences and Technology- Masters in Medical Sciences and Technology is an upcoming stream. It imparts skills that combine sciences and engineering to doctors to train them for the state-of-the-art medical research in Medical Imaging and Image Analysis, Biomaterials and Implants, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Medical Statistics, Telemedicine, Biomedical Instrumentation, Early Detection of Cancer, Immuno-technology, Clinical Biomarkers, Biosensors, Recombinant DNA Technology, regenerative medicine, Biomedical Simulation.

3. Options Abroad: Medicos can also opt for foreign studies to pursue higher education in different countries. The process to study medicine abroad are different. For instance, PLAB is for pursuing higher studies in UK while USA has USMLE for PG aspirants and Australia Medical Council has AMC exams. All of these facilitate the process of higher studies in the respective countries as well as job opportunities after course completion.

What after MBBS? - Other Opportunities

1. Government Jobs in health services departments

MBBS graduates can be recruited in government job profiles in central as well as state health service departments. The most opted for job opportunities in central government is through Combined Medical Services (CMS). UPSC conducts CMS to recruit doctors to a number of central government institutions like Railways, municipal corporations, government hospitals and dispensaries. The jobs are permanent in nature and subsequently offers administrative work in government health services. There are also several state-health-service exams offering job opportunities to medicos within respective states.

2. Defence Services: Jobs in Army, Navy and Air Force

Defence services are not just for engineers or other graduates, they are equally possible and in demand for medicos. The Indian Defence Ministry recruits MBBS graduates for infantry units, army hospitals and emergency services. Such medicos who are recruited by the Ministry are trained in military camps and appointed for a permanent position. This is done to make them work in sync with the army personnel and understand the emergency situations where the army and other defence personnel step in to provide relief efforts.

3. Employment in Hospital Chains

Hospital chains operating in private sector provide with great opportunities to medicos who have just completed their MBBS degree and have not yet decided upon what to do further. Topmost hospital chains in the aforementioned category are Apollo Hospitals, Fortis Hospitals and Max Hospitals. In addition they offer hefty salaries to the doctors they work with.

4. Opportunities in Research and Academics

For people with an inclination towards research, it is a very satisfying choice to pursue it and join academia towards training and guiding budding medical professionals. Top pharmaceutical firms offer lucrative opportunities to MBBS graduates in their research and development units. Not just that various renowned medical institutions including AIIMS, PGIMER, JIPMER, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) etc offer excellent opportunities for research and academics.

5. Career in Health Administration/Hospital Management

Medicos with management skills can opt for Hospital Management career options to enhance their knowledge of medicine as well as their inclination towards management roles. It is a well known fact that if the day-to-day services at hospitals are managed well then their services become more organized and functional. There are many hospitals who recruit doctors in such management roles where they deem fit. Doctors who can understand the problem ares, tackle challenges and find ways to enhance efficiency of processes and administration are highly in demand. Generally, doctors who have completed additional management programme after their MBBS degree are offered these roles. Master-level programmes like Health Administration and Hospital Management impart crucial skills to the doctors for managing multi-specialty hospitals, special clinics, insurance companies to name a few.

6. Biomedical Engineering and Sciences

Another specialized field,where medicos who have an interest in machines and their mechanisms, can try their luck is developing machines and instruments for use in health services. Such courses intend to develop engineering strategies to advance inventions in the medical field to improve healthcare and patient care.

7. Self-employment through private practice/ Public health

The most sought after choice of MBBS aspirants is to set up a clinic or start practicing medicine at a private firm. However, it is easier said than done, as this comes in with a lot of challenges. This choice is being opted by medical graduates far and wide to gain hands on experience and earn money.

There is a huge demand of doctors in public health sector and it is ever increasing. Career opportunities in this field include medical social worker,research consultants, entrepreneur, counselor, trainer and Psychiatric. Apart from these, medicos can for NGOs keeping in mind that not all NGOs offer unpaid jobs. Prominent among them are WHO, UNO, Médecins Sans Frontières.