Medical qualifications in India, explained
A doctor's qualification line — "MBBS, MD (Medicine), FICS" — is several different kinds of claim written as one. A primary degree licenses practice; a postgraduate degree makes a specialist; a diploma is a shorter specialist route; a fellowship may be an examination or a society membership. These pages take them one at a time: what each is, who awards it, what it does and does not make its holder, and — measured from the profiles here — how many doctors record it and in which branches.
Primary degrees
The degree that puts someone on a register and licenses practice of a system of medicine. One per system.
Postgraduate degrees
Three years after the primary degree; what makes a specialist. The branch in brackets is the speciality.
Super-speciality degrees
Three more years after a postgraduate degree; the cardiologist, the neurosurgeon, the urologist.
Postgraduate diplomas
Two years after the primary degree in one branch. A recognised specialist qualification, shorter than the degree.
Fellowships and memberships by examination
Examined qualifications awarded by a college or board rather than a university. Recognised, or at least earned.
Memberships and society fellowships
Letters on a letterhead that record membership of a body. Some are examined; most are not. None replaces a degree.
Research doctorates
The PhD: research training, not a clinical qualification.
A qualification that is not listed
Profiles record qualifications exactly as supplied, listed here or not. A page exists for a qualification once enough doctors on this site record it to measure; the register pages cover the bodies those doctors register with, and the how to spot a fake doctor guide walks through checking a qualification you cannot place.