2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 22, 2026 05:25 PM IST
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced that postgraduate diploma medical courses will be phased out across the country and replaced with postgraduate broad-specialty degree programmes such as MD and MS.
In a notification, the NMC said the 2026-27 academic session will be the last year in which students can be admitted to postgraduate diploma courses. From the 2027-28 academic year onwards, no fresh admissions will be allowed to PG diploma programmes, and these courses will cease to function.
The move is aimed at standardising postgraduate medical education, improving the quality and recognition of specialist training, and aligning medical qualifications with current educational standards. The commission also said the decision would help institutions make better use of their existing infrastructure and faculty resources.
The NMC noted that several medical colleges currently run both diploma and degree programmes in the same specialty, while some institutions offer only diploma courses. According to the commission, many of these colleges already possess the infrastructure, clinical material, faculty and other resources required to upgrade diploma seats into MD/MS seats.
To facilitate the transition, medical colleges that currently offer PG diploma courses can apply to convert them into corresponding MD or MS degree programmes. Applications will have to be submitted to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) through an online portal. The NMC said a dedicated application module and detailed timelines will be announced separately.
The decision follows provisions already included in the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, under which medical colleges were permitted to seek conversion of diploma seats into degree seats. The regulations had also stated that no new applications to start or increase diploma seats would be entertained.
Once implemented, the change will mark the end of postgraduate diploma admissions in medical colleges and shift specialist medical training entirely towards degree-based MD and MS programmes.