RTI Exposes 1,166 Medical Student Dropouts, 119 Suicides Over Five Years

The numbers are alarming as per the revelation through an RTI query, as more than 1,100 medical students dropped out and 119 committed suicide in the last five years. This information was provided by the National Medical Commission (NMC) in reply to an application by the United Doctors' Front (UDF).

UG and PG Dropouts Across India: A Worrisome Issue

The Postgraduate Medical Education Board of NMC, according to information received from a total of 512 medical colleges, reported that 1,166 medical students discontinued their courses from the year 2019 to date. This is inclusive of 166 students from the undergraduate (MBBS) course and 1,000 postgraduate students.

Clearly, some branches of PG dropouts witnessed more abandoners:

• 114 in MS General Surgery

• 100 in MS ENT

• 103 in Obstetrics & Gynaecology

• 50 in MS Orthopaedics

• 56 in MD General Medicine

• 54 in MD Paediatrics

• 529 from other specialties

119 Medical Student Suicides - A Quiet Tragedy

The same RTI inquiry response asserted that during the past five years, 119 medical students committed suicide-64 MBBS and 55 PG students. The numbers call for urgently addressing mental health issues among future doctors across the country.

National Institutes Also Affected by Dropouts

Here are the numbers of dropouts also available from prestigious Institutes of National Importance (INIs):

• AIIMS Bhubaneswar recorded 122 dropouts from 2020 to 2024;

• AIIMS Nagpur registered 56 dropouts from PG;

• JIPMER accounted for 276 dropouts from PG.

While AIIMS Bhubaneswar did not have reported suicides in postgraduate students, trends at the INIs raise caution.

Institutional Issues: 1,680 Complaints

PGMEB has received complaints from about 1,680 PG students during the last five years on various issues such as:

• Ragging

• Heavy workload

• Long working hours

• Bullying and harassment by seniors or faculty members

Other complaints from INIs state that AIIMS Nagpur had 27, and JIPMER had 4 complaints concerning problems that are systemic challenges for medical training institutes.

UDF Calls for Systemic Reforms and Action

Dr. Lakshya Mittal, national president for the UDF, made the findings public on social media with a message he wrote:

Failure to enforce the 1992 Central Residency Scheme despite directions from the Supreme Court demanding the implementation of duty-hour regulations, mental health safeguards, and weekly breaks. "The distressing figures revealed through UDF’s RTI—over 1100 PG dropouts, 119 suicides, and 1680 complaints—are a stark indictment of the collapsing support structure for resident doctors in India. These are not just statistics; they represent real lives and aspirations lost to systemic burnout, neglect, and institutional silence," Dr. Mittal 

Dr. Mittal confirmed that the UDF had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking judicial intervention to ensure reforms for medical trainees that are comprehensive and ground-level. 

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Muhammad Faisal Arshad/MSM)