MD Palliative Medicine
Direct answer
MD Palliative Medicine is the three-year postgraduate degree in the care of people with serious, life-limiting illness — relief of pain and other distressing symptoms, psychosocial and spiritual support for patients and families, and care through the end of life. The MD is offered at a limited number of centres in India; candidates enter after MBBS and internship through counselling on entrance examination scores. The degree qualifies doctors to lead palliative care services, hospice and home-care programmes and to teach symptom-control practice in cancer and general hospitals.
Course structure and curriculum
- Cancer pain management: analgesic ladders, opioid prescribing and adjuvant drugs.
- Symptom control modules on dyspnoea, nausea, constipation, delirium, fatigue and anorexia.
- Palliative radiotherapy intent and coordination with oncology teams.
- End-of-life care planning: goals-of-care conversations, withholding and withdrawing treatment ethics.
- Communication skills training on breaking bad news and family counselling.
- Home-care and hospice postings with community palliative programme exposure.
- Paediatric palliative care for children with cancer and progressive disease.
- Psychosocial and spiritual care with medical social work and counselling teams.
- Interventional pain procedures at equipped centres, including neurolytic blocks.
- Management of oncological emergencies in palliative contexts.
- Opioid regulations, essential medicines and national palliative policy frameworks.
- Research methodology, quality-of-life measures and dissertation work.
Entrance examinations
Palliative medicine MD seats are few and concentrated in selected institutes and cancer centres, so candidates should map current availability before planning. Where offered, admission is through NEET-PG merit — NBEMS conducts the examination and MCC or state counselling follows — or INI-CET for the AIIMS group, conducted by AIIMS New Delhi. Preparation should build on anaesthesiology and pharmacology for pain control, medicine and oncology fundamentals, and the broad MBBS syllabus.
University examinations
Residents are assessed via internal tests, case-load documentation, home-visit logs and reflective portfolios during training. A dissertation is compulsory under NMC norms, typically a symptom-prevalence, intervention or quality-of-life study, and must be accepted before the final examination. The finals include theory papers on symptom science, pain management, psycho-oncology and ethics, plus practicals built on a long palliative case with family interaction, communication-task stations, symptom-scenario short cases and viva on opioid laws, drug doses and service organisation.
Career pathways after MD Palliative Medicine
Graduates establish and lead hospital palliative units, hospices and community home-care networks, often attached to cancer centres. Government programmes, non-governmental organisations and mission hospitals run expanding services that need qualified leaders. Academic posts, training of primary physicians in palliative care and policy work on opioid access are further directions. Fellowships in psycho-oncology and pain medicine complement the degree at select centres.
Preparation with PrepElephant
PrepElephant offers previous-year entrance questions, question banks, mock tests and revision tools in the app for aspirants, and residents can drill the same content for institutional assessments. Free guides on the website explain counselling and residency study planning. The support on offer is practice material, stated plainly.
Frequently asked questions
How long is MD Palliative Medicine?
Three years after MBBS and the compulsory rotating internship, spanning inpatient units, outpatient clinics, hospice and home-care visits.
Which entrance exam is needed for MD Palliative Medicine?
Where offered, admission is via NEET-PG conducted by NBEMS, followed by MCC or state counselling; AIIMS-group institutes take candidates through INI-CET. The MD runs at a limited number of centres.
Does MD Palliative Medicine require a thesis?
Yes. A dissertation under a university guide, accepted before the final examination, is a compulsory requirement of the MD degree under NMC norms.
What is the scope of palliative medicine in India?
Cancer centres, hospices, home-care programmes, government palliative initiatives and NGO services need specialists; need is substantial while training posts remain comparatively few.
Is palliative medicine only for cancer patients?
No. Serious non-cancer illness — advanced organ failure, neurodegenerative disease, drug-resistant tuberculosis — also calls for palliative care, and training covers these populations.
Practise this in the PrepElephant app
Question banks, previous-year questions, mock tests and revision tools — for MD Palliative Medicine. Free to start.