How to Become an Orthopaedic Surgeon in India

To become an orthopaedic surgeon in India you complete MBBS with its compulsory internship, qualify in NEET-PG (or INI-CET for the Institutes of National Importance), secure a seat through counselling, and complete either the three-year MS Orthopaedics under the National Medical Commission (NMC) or the three-year DNB Orthopaedics under the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). Each ends in an exit examination and a thesis. This guide sets out the rules for each step from the NMC and NBEMS documents. For a comparison with other countries, see the hub guide to becoming an orthopaedic surgeon.

The Indian route at a glance

Who can sit NEET-PG, and what does it cover?

NBEMS describes NEET-PG (opens in a new tab) as an eligibility-cum-ranking examination prescribed as the single entrance examination for MD/MS and PG diploma courses under Section 61(2) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. To sit it you need an MBBS degree (or provisional pass certificate) recognised under the NMC Act, permanent or provisional registration, and completion of the one-year internship by the cut-off date for that admission session.

One NEET-PG rank is used for:

• All-India quota seats, 50% of seats in each state and union territory.
• State quota seats.
• All private medical colleges and deemed universities.
• Armed Forces Medical Services institutions.
• Post-MBBS DNB and NBEMS diploma courses.

No state or private college may run a separate entrance examination for MD/MS or diploma admissions. The exceptions are AIIMS New Delhi and the other AIIMS, PGIMER Chandigarh, JIPMER Puducherry, NIMHANS Bengaluru and SCTIMST Trivandrum, which are outside NEET-PG centralised admission. They admit through the Institutes of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET); the INI-CET prospectus (opens in a new tab) is published on the AIIMS examinations portal and covers MD, MS, six-year DM and M.Ch., MDS and MD (Hospital Administration).

How does PG counselling work?

The Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023 (opens in a new tab) (PGMER-2023) require common counselling for all postgraduate medical seats, conducted online in as many rounds as needed. The Central Government's designated authority counsels the All-India quota; each state or union territory counsels its own quota. No college may admit a student outside counselling.

In practice the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) (opens in a new tab) of the Directorate General of Health Services runs the central rounds. NBEMS confirms that MCC also counsels for three-year post-MBBS DNB seats alongside MD/MS and diploma seats, so a single choice-filling process covers both MS and DNB orthopaedics. The seat you obtain depends on your rank, category, quota and the order of your choices across rounds.

MS Orthopaedics: what PGMER-2023 requires

M.S. (Orthopaedics) is one of the broad-specialty degrees listed in PGMER-2023. The rules that matter for an orthopaedic resident:

• Duration: three years including the examination, or two years for a candidate who already holds a recognised two-year diploma in the same subject.
• Full-time residency: all postgraduate students work as full-time resident doctors with graded responsibility for patients.
• Thesis: every broad-specialty student does thesis research and writes a thesis.
• e-logbook: updated weekly, with M.S. students required to record surgical procedures they assisted with or performed; the postgraduate guide authenticates it monthly.
• District Residency Programme: a compulsory three-month residential rotation in district hospitals or the district health system during the third, fourth or fifth semester (third semester only for post-diploma students). Satisfactory completion is an essential condition for sitting the final examination.

The summative examination is conducted by the university and consists of:

• Four theory papers, the first on basic medical sciences and the fourth on recent advances.
• A clinical examination of one long case and two short cases, including an OSCE.
• A viva voce covering the subject, investigations and treatment techniques.

There must be at least four examiners, two of them external and at least one from a university outside the state. Universities may hold no more than two examinations a year in a subject, 4 to 8 months apart.

DNB Orthopaedics: what NBEMS requires

NBEMS runs DNB broad-specialty courses (opens in a new tab) in 29 disciplines, including Orthopaedics, through its accredited hospitals.

• Entry: three-year post-MBBS DNB through NEET-PG and MCC counselling; two-year post-diploma DNB through DNB-PDCET, also run by NBEMS, with counselling by NBEMS. Orthopaedics is one of the specialties with a post-diploma route.
• Training: posted across the areas set in the orthopaedic curriculum, with an e-logbook reviewed by the trainee's guide.
• Thesis: the protocol is approved by the institution's ethics and scientific research committees; the completed thesis is assessed by NBEMS subject experts and must be accepted (a Thesis Acceptance Letter) before the qualification is awarded.
• Formative Assessment Test (FAT): a centralised theory test plus workplace-based assessment in the second year of a three-year course. FAT marks do not count towards the final result, but attendance at the minimum number of assessments is mandatory.
• DNB Final: usually held in June and December. It is a two-stage examination: theory first, and only candidates who pass the theory proceed to the practical.

The DNB is conferred at the NBEMS convocation on candidates who pass both stages and whose thesis has been accepted. Stipend is paid for the training period, but not beyond 36 months on a three-year course if training is extended by excess leave. For paper format, pass marks and preparation, see our MS and DNB Orthopaedics exam guide.

MS or DNB: how they compare

After MS or DNB: super-specialty and fellowship

PGMER-2023 lists M.S./DNB (Orthopaedics) as the feeder qualification for M.Ch. Hand Surgery and M.Ch. Paediatric Orthopaedics, and as one of the feeders for M.Ch. Surgical Oncology. Admission to these three-year super-specialty courses is through NEET-SS. The regulations also list a one-year Post-Doctoral Certificate Course (PDCC) in Spine Surgery. Training in other areas, such as arthroplasty or arthroscopy, comes through fellowships run by individual institutions in India or abroad. Our orthopaedic fellowship application guide covers how to choose and apply.

The D.Ortho diploma (opens in a new tab) remains in the PGMER-2023 list of two-year diplomas, but the regulations allow colleges to convert diploma seats into degree seats and say no new applications will be entertained to start or increase diploma seats.

The Indian route compared

India is one of the shortest specialist routes after the primary degree: three years of postgraduate training leads to a specialist qualification, against five years of residency in the United States or Canada. The trade-off is a single, high-stakes entrance rank that decides both specialty and institution. For the full country comparison, see the hub guide to becoming an orthopaedic surgeon.