The story so far: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has decided to phase out all postgraduate (PG) diploma medical courses in India. The 2026–27 academic session will be the last year in which students can take admission to these programmes. From 2027–28 onwards, no fresh admissions will be permitted, and the courses will cease to function. Existing diploma seats are to be converted into corresponding MD/MS degree seats.

In its order issued earlier this week, the NMC’s Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) has directed medical colleges offering PG diploma courses to apply for conversion of those seats into MD/MS broad-specialty degree seats through the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB). The regulator said that no new applications to start or increase diploma seats will be entertained.

Which courses are going to be affected?

The move affects traditional diploma programmes including Diploma in Gynaecology and Obstetrics (DGO), Diploma in Child Health (DCH), Diploma in Anaesthesia (DA), Medical Radiodiagnosis (DMRD), Ophthalmology (DO), among others.

These courses typically lasted two years in comparison with three years for the MD/MS programmes.

Why did NMC take this call?

This isn’t a sudden decision. The latest direction stems from provisions already included in the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER), 2023. The regulations allowed colleges to convert diploma seats into degree seats and indicated that no new diploma expansion would be permitted. The latest notice effectively sets a deadline for the complete phase-out.

The NMC maintains that the objectives are to standardise postgraduate medical education; enhance quality and recognition of specialist training; align qualifications with contemporary educational standards; and optimise existing infrastructure, and faculty resources. “The idea is to offer specialist training through a single degree-based framework rather than parallel diploma and degree streams,’’ a senior health official said.

The recent direction is actually the culmination of a policy shift that has been under way for nearly two decades. The diploma courses were created in the pre-independence and early post-independence era when India desperately needed specialists, but lacked enough teaching hospitals and faculty to run MD/MS programmes. A two-year diploma was seen as a practical way to produce specialists quickly, especially for district hospitals and smaller towns.

For decades, a DGO or DCH holder could become the backbone of maternal and child health services in rural India. But now with the expansion of MD/MS seats and degree holders gaining an advantage – better academic recognition, easier eligibility for teaching posts and better prospects for super speciality training (DM/MCh) – there has been pressure on NMC to convert diploma seats into degree seats.

The process accelerated after the creation of the NMC in 2020. The turning point came with PGMER, 2023 which directed that – colleges may convert diploma seats into degree seats, no new diploma courses would be approved and that there would be no increase in diploma seats.

What happens to existing diploma seats and what does the move mean for MBBS students?

The existing seats are expected to be converted into MD/MS seats, subject to institutions meeting NMC norms regarding faculty, infrastructure, and clinical material. Colleges have been asked to apply for this conversion through a dedicated MARB process.

For the MBBS students, this translates into uniform specialist qualifications across the country and better recognition of qualifications in academic and professional settings.

What are the concerns so far?

Diploma courses were often a quicker route to specialisation and many district and smaller hospitals depended on diploma-trained specialists. This could also reduce flexibility and delay specialist availability in underserved areas.