Future doctors shun scalpel: Non-surgical specialities see surge in NEET PG demand

Top-ranking NEET-PG students are increasingly opting for non-surgical super-specialties such as General Medicine, Cardiology and Neurology. Senior doctors say demanding hours, burnout, delayed career stability and medico-legal pressures are pushing young doctors away from surgical branches.

Hyderabad: A majority of young doctors, across the country and in Telangana, who secured high ranks recent NEET-PG examinations, are preferring non-surgical super-specialty courses (Doctor of Medicine or MD), which typically deal with high volume chronic diseases that utilise advanced non-surgical techniques like minimally invasive procedures.

Doing away with surgical branches, this year’s NEET-PG counselling witnessed the highest competition (cut-off ranks) for non-surgical specialities branches such as MD in General Medicine, which is most sought after, followed by Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Nephrology and Endocrinology.

---

Apart from the above, a few more non-surgical specialties that were in great demand included Medical Oncology, Critical Care Medicine. Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology.

Senior doctors in Hyderabad familiar with the trend point out that a surgical speciality (MS-Master of Surgery) is demanding while an MD enables young doctors to quickly settle by allowing them to start their own independent practice quickly.

It is a fact that surgical specialties, over the years, have become highly demanding, which involve long and unpredictable hours, intense mental and physical stress in the operating room and higher risk of burnout.

Surgical specialties also involve spending a lot of time under the wings of a Professor of Surgery, while learning the craft.

“A physician, radiologist, or dermatologist, can build confidence within the first few years of training. In contrast, most surgeons must work under senior mentors for many years before they feel fully ready for complex surgeries. Surgical mastery is a long steep climb often extending beyond residency,” sums-up senior neurologist and a renowned public health advocate from Hyderabad, Dr Sudhir Kumar.

On an average, young doctors pursuing surgical specialities often experience later professional settlement, typically between the age of 35 to 40 years, sometimes even more, whereas, non-surgical fields often allow for earlier income stability and independent practice.

“We usually select super-specialty branches based on the honest feedback from our seniors. Almost all of our seniors pursuing MS are experiencing intense mental and physical stress. There is a need to prioritize a more controllable lifestyle and better mental well-being. That’s why, I chose to pursue a non-surgical specialty,” says PG doctor (Nephrology), Dr. Suresh Kumar.

Senior doctors also point out that a lot of senior surgeons also struggle with medico-legal cases and litigation, whenever an unfortunate death happens on the operating table.