Securing a postgraduate seat at India’s premier medical institutions—such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) or JIPMER—is widely viewed as the pinnacle of a young doctor’s academic journey. Yet, startling Right to Information (RTI) disclosures obtained by the United Doctors Front (UDF) reveal a troubling reality behind those coveted campus gates: 477 postgraduate and super-speciality doctors abandoned their courses midway over the last three years across 10 leading central medical institutes.
Out of 3,130 doctors who secured admission across nine AIIMS branches and JIPMER Puducherry during the reported periods, roughly 15% chose to resign before completing their training.
By the Numbers: Attrition Across Premier Institutes
While some campuses saw higher total departures due to larger batch sizes, smaller and newer institutes recorded the steepest proportional dropout rates. AIIMS Gorakhpur topped the attrition percentage at 31%, closely followed by JIPMER Puducherry at 27%.
| Institute | Reported Period | Total Admitted | Students Who Quit | Approx. Attrition Rate |
| JIPMER Puducherry | 2024 – 2025 | 387 | 104 | ~27% |
| AIIMS Delhi | 2024 – 2025 | 591 (324 in ’24; 267 in ’25) | 94 (60 in ’24; 34 in ’25) | ~16% |
| AIIMS Rishikesh | 2025 – 2026 | 595 (PG, SS, Fellowship, MSc/MPH) | 70 | ~12% |
| AIIMS Jodhpur | 2025 – 2026 | 503 (276 in ’25; 227 in ’26) | 66 (33 in ’25; 33 in ’26) | ~13% |
| AIIMS Nagpur | 2024 – 2025 | 190 | 39 | ~21% |
| AIIMS Gorakhpur | 2025 – 2026 | 106 (51 in ’25; 55 in ’26) | 33 (19 in ’25; 14 in ’26) | ~31% |
| AIIMS Kalyani | 2025 – 2026 | 193 (81 in ’25; 112 in ’26) | 24 (13 in ’25; 11 in ’26) | ~12% |
| AIIMS Raipur | 2025 – 2026 | 317 (155 in ’25; 162 in ’26) | 24 (19 in ’25; 5 in ’26) | ~8% |
| AIIMS Patna | 2025 – 2026 | 192 (63 in ’25; 129 in ’26) | 20 (12 in ’25; 8 in ’26) | ~10% |
| AIIMS Bibinagar | 2025 – 2026 | 121 (56 in ’25; 65 in ’26) | 3 (2026 exits undisclosed) | ~2% (overall) |
What Is Driving Young Doctors Away?
Walking away from an INI-CET or NEET-PG seat at an Institute of National Importance carries heavy career and financial penalties—meaning these resignations are rarely taken lightly. According to UDF Chairperson Dr. Lakshya Mittal, the exodus points to systemic pressures inside hospital wards:
- Grueling, Unregulated Shifts: Resident doctors routinely report continuous duty stretches extending beyond 36 hours without adequate rest.
- Toxic Workplace Culture: Complaints of mental harassment, humiliation, and a lack of basic institutional empathy remain widespread.
- Generational Hazing: Dr. Mittal highlighted a damaging mindset embedded in medical hierarchies—“We went through this, so the next generation must go through it too”—which normalizes suffering and exploitation under the guise of clinical rigor.
- Missing Support Systems: Despite intense clinical workloads, most institutes lacked consolidated records of workplace stress or accessible psychiatric counselling data in their RTI replies.
“Residency is meant to train doctors, not break them. Discipline is not humiliation, dedication is not exploitation, and medical training must never come at the cost of human dignity.”
— Dr. Lakshya Mittal, Chairperson, United Doctors Front (UDF)
The Push for Systemic Reform
Resident doctors form the clinical backbone of public tertiary hospitals, managing round-the-clock emergencies, surgeries, and outpatient care. Warning that India risks losing an entire generation of specialists to burnout, the United Doctors Front has escalated the issue by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court.
The doctors’ body is calling on the government and regulatory authorities to strictly enforce residency working-hour caps, establish independent grievance-redressal cells, and hold institutional leadership accountable for resident well-being.
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