Karnataka Medical Council NOC Delay Leaves Over 3,000 PG Doctors in Limbo: A Crisis That Hurts Patients Too

Bengaluru, December 2025 – More than 3,000 postgraduate medical doctors who completed their courses in 2025 are stuck in an unprecedented bureaucratic logjam. The Karnataka Medical Council (KMC) has not issued No Objection Certificates (NOCs) required for their final registration, effectively barring them from practicing independently, joining government service, or even applying for super-speciality courses.

For many of these young doctors, the dream of finally treating patients after years of grueling study has turned into months of forced idleness.

What is the NOC and why is it suddenly a roadblock?

In Karnataka, every doctor must be registered with the Karnataka Medical Council to legally practice medicine in the state. For PG graduates, the process involves:

1. Completion of the MD/MS/Diploma course,
2. Submission of the provisional degree certificate and internship completion certificate,
3. Obtaining an NOC from KMC stating there are no disciplinary issues pending,
4. Final registration.

Until last year, the NOC used to be issued within days or, at worst, a couple of weeks. Since mid-2025, however, the process has virtually ground to a halt. Graduates report waiting 4–7 months with no clear timeline.

The human cost

• Over 3,000 doctors from the 2025 PG batch across 60+ medical colleges in Karnataka are affected.
• Many have cleared their final exams in May–June 2025 but remain unregistered even in December.
• Private hospitals are reluctant to hire them without KMC registration.
• Government recruitment (including the prestigious Karnataka Administrative Service medical officer posts) explicitly demands valid KMC registration.
• Candidates who wish to pursue DM/MCh super-speciality seats through NEET-SS are finding their applications rejected because they cannot produce proof of PG registration.
• Some are surviving on stipends as low as ₹20,000–30,000 as “non-PG” senior residents, while others have no income at all.

One affected doctor (name withheld on request) told this blogger:
“We spent three years serving COVID wards, doing 36-hour duties, and studying at night. Now, when we are finally qualified specialists, the system treats us as if we don’t exist. We can’t even apply for jobs in our own state.”

Why the delay?

Sources inside the KMC and medical colleges point to multiple reasons:

1. Massive backlog after the implementation of a new online registration portal that has been repeatedly crashing.
2. Acute staff shortage at KMC (the council reportedly functions with less than 40% of sanctioned manpower).
3. Pendency of thousands of undergraduate registrations from previous years that are being cleared first.
4. Alleged “informal” demands for speed money that many doctors refuse to pay, further slowing their files.

Whatever the reason, the official KMC website still proudly claims “Registration within 15 days” – a promise that has become a bitter joke among the 2025 batch.

The bigger picture: Karnataka’s doctor shortage worsens

Karnataka already faces an acute shortage of specialist doctors, especially in district hospitals and taluk-level facilities. The state government’s own data (2024) shows vacancies of over 1,800 specialist posts in the health department.

By keeping 3,000 freshly-trained specialists out of the workforce, the KMC delay is directly aggravating the crisis it should be solving. Patients in government hospitals continue to wait months for neurology, cardiology, nephrology, and oncology consultations – while qualified doctors sit at home.

Students knock on the Chief Minister’s door

Frustrated with unresponsive KMC officials, PG doctors have now turned to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. A representation signed by more than 2,400 affected doctors was submitted to the CMO in November 2025. Memorandums have also been sent to the Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and Medical Education Minister Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil.

Their demands are straightforward:

• Immediate clearance of all pending 2025-batch NOCs within 15 days.
• Temporary provisional registration for PG doctors (a system that already exists for MBBS graduates).
• Public disclosure of the exact number of pending applications and a time-bound clearance plan.

As one petitioner put it: “If the government can conduct NEET-PG counseling and allocate seats within weeks, why can’t the KMC clear a simple NOC?”

A plea to the government

Mr. Chief Minister,
These 3,000 doctors are not asking for favors. They are asking to be allowed to work – to serve the people of Karnataka who funded their education through taxes and who now desperately need their expertise.

A single executive order directing KMC to issue provisional registration or clear the backlog with additional staff on war footing can resolve this crisis almost overnight.

The class of 2025 stands ready. Please let us treat patients instead of waiting in limbo.