PG Diploma Medical Courses: According to the National Medical Commission (a statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), postgraduate diploma medical courses across the country will gradually be discontinued and replaced by postgraduate broad-speciality degree programs such as MD (Doctor of Medicine) and MS (Surgery of Medicine).
In an official notification from the NMC, 2026-27 will be the final and last academic session for admitting students to postgraduate diploma courses. No new admissions will take place for PG diploma courses from the 2027-28 academic year onwards, and the courses will be discontinued.
The purpose of this step is to standardise postgraduate medical education, improve the quality and recognition of specialist training, and align medical qualifications with current educational standards. The National Medical Commission further noted that this decision will assist institutions in better utilising their existing infrastructure and faculty resources.
The Commission found that many medical colleges run both PG diploma and degree programs in the same speciality, while some institutions offer only diploma courses. According to the National Medical Commission, many of these medical colleges already have the infrastructure, clinical material, faculty, and other resources needed to convert diploma seats into MD/MS seats.
To make this transition easier, medical colleges are currently running PG diploma courses
To make this transition easier, medical colleges currently running PG diploma courses can apply to convert them into corresponding MD or MS degree programs. Applications need to be submitted to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) through an online portal. The NMC has mentioned that a specific application module and a detailed timeline will be announced separately.
This decision was made based on existing provisions in the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, which allowed medical colleges to convert diploma seats into degree seats. These rules and regulations also stated that no new applications to start or increase diploma seats would be accepted. Once this change is implemented, postgraduate diploma courses in medical colleges will stop accepting admissions, and specialist training will move entirely to degree-based MD and MS programs.
