India
Choosing a doctor · 8 min read

What the letters after an Indian doctor's name mean

MBBS, MD, MS, DNB, DM, MCh, DGO, FRCS — what each qualification actually is, how long it takes, and which ones indicate a specialist.

Written by The Doctor Index editorial team
Published 9 Sep 2026
9 Sep 2026
Not medically reviewed
This guide describes registers, credentials and how to check them. It makes no medical claim and needs no clinical review.
9 Sep 2026

Indian doctors carry long strings of post-nominals, and clinics rarely explain them. Most of the confusion is avoidable: there are only about six categories, and knowing which category a qualification falls into tells you most of what you need — whether the person is a generalist, a specialist, or a super-specialist.

This page describes what the qualifications are. It does not tell you which one you need for a given problem, and a longer list is not a better doctor.

The primary degree

MBBS

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery. The undergraduate medical degree and the entry point to modern medicine in India — roughly five and a half years including a compulsory rotating internship. Every doctor practising modern medicine holds this or a recognised foreign equivalent. On its own it means a general practitioner, not a specialist.

Someone whose only qualification is MBBS is fully qualified to practise. “Only MBBS” is not a criticism; a great many excellent family physicians hold exactly that.

Postgraduate specialisation

Three routes lead to the same place. A specialist will hold one of them, and they are broadly equivalent — the route says more about where someone trained than about their standard.

MD — Doctor of Medicine

A three-year postgraduate degree in a mainly non-surgical speciality: general medicine, paediatrics, dermatology, psychiatry, radiology, anaesthesia, pathology and others. Awarded by a university.

MS — Master of Surgery

The surgical counterpart, also three years: general surgery, orthopaedics, ENT, ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology. Also awarded by a university.

DNB — Diplomate of National Board

Awarded by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences rather than a university, usually after training at an accredited hospital instead of a medical college. It is recognised as equivalent to MD or MS in the corresponding speciality. A doctor may write “MD” or “DNB” depending on which route they took; both are specialists.

Super-speciality

A further three years after an MD or MS, in a narrow field. These are the qualifications that indicate the deepest training, and they always sit on top of a postgraduate degree — nobody holds one without an MD or MS first.

DM — Doctorate of Medicine

The medical super-specialities, following an MD: cardiology, neurology, nephrology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, medical oncology, clinical immunology and others.

MCh — Magister Chirurgiae

The surgical super-specialities, following an MS: cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, urology, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery, surgical oncology and others.

DrNB and FNB

The National Board’s equivalents. DrNB is its super-speciality qualification, comparable to DM or MCh. FNB is a fellowship in a narrower area, typically one to two years, and is a post-doctoral add-on rather than a route to specialist status by itself.

Postgraduate diplomas

Two-year qualifications, shorter than an MD or MS, in a defined speciality. You will see them on doctors who trained some years ago: DGO (obstetrics and gynaecology), DCH (child health), DLO (ENT), DA (anaesthesia), DOMS (ophthalmology), DDVL (dermatology), DPM (psychiatry), DORTHO (orthopaedics).

These sit between MBBS and a full postgraduate degree. Diploma courses were progressively discontinued and their seats converted to degree seats after the National Medical Commission replaced the Medical Council of India, so they are increasingly a marker of an experienced doctor rather than a recent graduate.

Foreign qualifications

British and Irish royal college qualifications appear often on Indian profiles, particularly among doctors who trained or worked in the UK:

  • MRCP — Member of the Royal College of Physicians. A postgraduate examination in internal medicine.
  • MRCS — Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. The surgical counterpart, taken in early surgical training.
  • FRCS — Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. A senior surgical qualification, usually with the speciality named after it.
  • MRCOG, MRCPCH, FRCR, FRCA — the same idea in obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, radiology and anaesthesia.
  • FEBOT and similar “FEB” titles — Fellow of the European Board in a speciality, awarded on a European examination.

These are genuine qualifications, and a doctor holding one has usually trained abroad. But note two things: a foreign qualification does not by itself permit practice in India — registration with an Indian council is still required — and these awards are generally not recorded on the Indian register, so they are the hardest qualifications for anyone, including us, to verify independently. If a foreign qualification matters to your decision, the awarding college is the body that can confirm it.

Other systems of medicine

Different councils, different degrees, and not interchangeable with the above:

  • BAMS — Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery. Postgraduate: MD (Ayu) or MS (Ayu).
  • BHMS — Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery. Postgraduate: MD (Hom).
  • BUMS — Unani. BSMS — Siddha. BNYS — Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences.
  • BDS and MDS — dentistry, registered with the Dental Council of India.
  • BPT and MPT — physiotherapy.

Two things worth knowing

A longer list is not a better doctor. Post-nominals accumulate with fellowships, memberships, courses and society affiliations, some of which are examined qualifications and some of which are paid memberships. The qualifications that indicate training are the ones above; the rest are context.

And a practical one: the qualification that determines what someone is trained to treat is thehighest relevant one, not the total count. A doctor with MBBS, MD and DM in cardiology is a cardiologist. A doctor with MBBS and five fellowships in unrelated areas is a general practitioner with five fellowships.

How we show this

Each profile lists the qualifications on the record and marks each one verified or unverified. A qualification is marked verified only when we have matched it against a register or the awarding body — in practice this usually means the primary degree the medical council registered the doctor on. Postgraduate and foreign degrees are usually shown as stated but unverified, because there is no register we can read that carries them.

General guidance, not advice about your situation. Not for emergencies — call 108. Errors can be reported through the corrections process.