What an MS means on a doctor's profile
The MS is the three-year postgraduate degree of the surgical specialities — general surgery, orthopaedics, ENT, ophthalmology and gynaecology.
The MS is the surgical counterpart of the MD: a three-year postgraduate degree after the MBBS, entered through NEET-PG, awarded by universities under the National Medical Commission's Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023. Its branches are the broad surgical specialities — general surgery, orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology (ENT), ophthalmology, and obstetrics and gynaecology, which is awarded as either MS or MD depending on the university — plus anatomy, which is a non-clinical MS.
As with the MD, the branch is what matters and it is usually written in brackets after the degree. An MS (General Surgery) holder is a general surgeon; the MCh is the further three years that make a super-specialist — a urologist, a neurosurgeon, a plastic surgeon. The measured block below shows which branches the MS holders on this site record and where they practise.
How to check whether a doctor holds an MS
- Read the register entryA doctor's record on the Indian Medical Register names the qualification the state medical council recorded at registration, and further qualifications where the doctor has had them added. If the doctor says they hold an MS and the register shows only the primary degree, the MS has not been registered — which is common and not by itself a warning, but it does mean the register cannot confirm it.
- Check the college was recognised for the courseThe NMC's College and Course Search lists which institutions are recognised for which courses. an MS from a college not recognised for it on the year in question is a qualification the NMC does not recognise, whatever the certificate says.
- Ask the awarding body when it mattersUniversities verify degrees on request, usually for a fee; a hospital credentialing a doctor does this, and a patient can ask whether it has been done. On this site a qualification is marked verified only when it has been checked against the awarding body and the date is shown; otherwise it is marked as supplied.
4,291 doctors record an MS
6 of them (0%) have the qualification checked against the awarding body; 5 record the year it was awarded, from 1958 to 2011. The rest are recorded as supplied. Counts are read from the live database and refresh hourly.
Branches as written on profiles
| Branch | Doctors |
|---|---|
| General Surgery | 487 |
| E.n.t | 236 |
| GEN Surg | 209 |
| Ophthalmology | 200 |
| Ortho | 176 |
| Gynaecology | 160 |
| Orthopaedics | 158 |
| Gynae | 137 |
Specialities they practise
- General surgeons · 1,207
- Gynaecologists · 752
- Orthopaedic surgeons · 693
- Ophthalmologists · 538
- ENT surgeons · 419
- Urologists · 139
Where they practise
Branches with their own page
- MD/MS (Obstetrics & Gynaecology) — MD or MS in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- MS (General Surgery) — MS in General Surgery
- MS (Orthopaedics) — MS in Orthopaedics
- MS (ENT) — MS in Otorhinolaryngology (ENT)
- MS (Ophthalmology) — MS in Ophthalmology
Questions people ask
- Is an MS a recognised qualification in India?
- Yes, when awarded by an institution recognised for it. The National Medical Commission maintains the list of recognised qualifications and of the institutions permitted to award each; an MS from a college that was not recognised for the course in that year is not a recognised qualification, and a registering body can refuse to enter it on the register.
- Is an MS the same as an MS in engineering or science?
- No. The medical MS is a postgraduate surgical degree that requires an MBBS to enter and three years of clinical training to complete. It shares only its initials with the Master of Science.
Every profile lists its qualifications as supplied and says which of them have been checked against the awarding body and when. Where none has, the profile says so.
General information about medical qualifications in India, checked against the sources listed on 25 Sep 2026. Not advice about your situation. Errors can be reported through the corrections process.