135 PG Doctors Quit Six AIIMS Institutions; UDF Seeks Urgent Intervention by Health Ministry
NEW DELHI/SHIMLA:
Departures reported at seven AIIMS institutions across India; HimbuMail accesses RTI replies exposing gaps in resident welfare, counselling records and workplace monitoring**
As many as 135 postgraduate resident doctors are reported to have left premier AIIMS institutions in 2025, turning the exodus of medical talent into a burning issue for the country's public healthcare system.
The departures raise troubling questions about working conditions, institutional support and the ability of India's top medical institutions to retain young doctors.
The trend is a warning sign of a possible healthcare crisis within institutions expected to set the highest standards of medical education and patient care.
Right to Information disclosures obtained by UDF, which is accessed by HimbuMail, from AIIMS institutions — New Delhi, Kalyani, Rishikesh, Raipur, Patna, Gorakhpur and Bibinagar — record postgraduate resident departures across different courses and batches. The replies also expose gaps in institutional records on psychiatric counselling and workplace-related factors.
AIIMS New Delhi reported 34 departures in its department-wise postgraduate resident data for 2025. Anaesthesiology accounted for seven, Ophthalmology six and Surgery three. Departures were also reported in Anatomy, Emergency Medicine, ENT, Orthopaedics, Pathology, Pharmacology and other departments.
The institute said no compiled data on psychiatric counselling of residents was available in its Academic Section for 2025 or 2024, reveal UDF.
AIIMS Kalyani reported that 15 postgraduate students across all three years left the institute during 2025.
Of these, 13 belonged to the January and July 2025 batches, which together had 81 admissions. The institute also reported 11 departures from the January and July 2026 batches up to the date of its reply.
AIIMS Rishikesh recorded 30 departures across its listed postgraduate courses in 2025. These included six in DM/MCh, two in post-doctoral fellowship, 19 in MD/MS/MDS/MCh and three in Master of Public Health.
What is more worrisome is that institute reported six postgraduate students had received psychiatric counselling from January 1, 2026, up to the date of its reply. It acknowledged that no consolidated record of workplace-related factors was maintained.
AIIMS Raipur's reply showed 54 departures across six batches from 2023 to 2025 during the calendar year 2025. These included eight from the January 2023 batch, seven from July 2023, 14 from January 2024, six from July 2024, 10 from January 2025 and nine from July 2025.
The institute reported no psychiatric counselling cases in 2025 or in 2026 up to the date of its reply. It said workplace-related information was not available.
AIIMS Patna reported 12 postgraduate students leaving during 2025 across all three years. It recorded 15 students receiving psychiatric counselling during the year. Its batch-wise figures also showed departures from both the January and July 2025 intakes.
AIIMS Gorakhpur reported 21 departures from its January and July 2025 batches, comprising 11 from the January batch and 10 from the July batch. The reply did not provide a separate consolidated figure for departures across all three postgraduate years.
AIIMS Bibinagar reported five departures from its January and July 2025 batches — three from the January intake and two from July.
The institute said records on workplace-related factors cited as reasons for stress, depression and sleep deprivation among postgraduate students were not available.
The disclosures reveal a disturbing lack of uniform monitoring. While some institutions have reported counselling figures, others have stated that compiled records are unavailable or that workplace-related information is not maintained, reveal UDF RTI.
The replies do not establish that working conditions caused each departure, but they underline the need for a transparent investigation into why residents are leaving and what happens to the vacant training positions.
The issue goes beyond remuneration. Long duty hours, inadequate rest, staff shortages, intense clinical responsibilities, limited research opportunities and the absence of a humane working environment require scrutiny.
Young doctors enter these institutions with professional aspirations and a commitment to public service; institutions must provide conditions in which both can flourish.
AIIMS institutions carry a responsibility far greater than producing specialists. They provide advanced treatment to patients who cannot afford expensive private healthcare and serve people from remote and underserved regions. Any weakening of their ability to retain medical talent ultimately risks affecting patient care, access and affordability.
Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda must convene the United Doctors Front, Indian Medical Association, resident doctors, medical experts and heads of medical institutions to examine the reasons behind the departures.
The review should cover duty-hour safeguards, weekly rest, staffing, postgraduate seat availability, research facilities, mental health support and effective grievance-redressal systems.
The Health Ministry must also establish a common system for recording resident departures, counselling requirements and workplace complaints across AIIMS institutions.
Without reliable data and institutional accountability, the reasons behind the exodus will remain inadequately understood.
UDF Chairperson Dr Lakshya Mittal said the departures should not be treated as routine attrition.
“The exodus of doctors is a serious matter and the Health Ministry must address it at the earliest,” he said, urging the government to act before the problem further affects the country's public medical institutions.
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