Doctor Salary in Kerala and India After MBBS from Russia
A Kerala government Assistant Surgeon is paid on the scale ₹63,700–1,23,700 a month, and an NHM Medical Officer on contract gets ₹50,000 consolidated, according to the official notices. This post shows where those figures come from, what a graduate of a Russian medical university has to finish before applying, and what we could not verify, mainly private hospital pay.
In short: the doctor salary in Kerala depends on the employer, not on whether the MBBS is from Russia or India. The Kerala PSC notice for Assistant Surgeon in the Health Services Department (Category No. 177/2025) gives a pay scale of ₹63,700–1,23,700 a month and asks for an MBBS degree and registration with the Travancore-Cochin Medical Council. NHM Kerala notices for a contract Medical Officer show ₹50,000 a month, consolidated. A graduate from Russia can apply only after FMGE, the 12-month internship in India and state registration, so the first salary comes at least seven years after joining. We found no official figure for private hospitals and do not invent one.
Doctor salary in Kerala: government posts with official figures
Parents usually ask one question first: what will my child earn? The honest answer starts with the type of job. A government doctor in Kerala is paid on a published pay scale. A National Health Mission (NHM) doctor is paid a fixed consolidated amount on contract. A private hospital pays whatever the owner and the doctor agree. Only the first two are written in public documents, so those are the figures we can give.
| Post | Pay | What the document says |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant Surgeon / Casualty Medical Officer, Health Services Department, Kerala government | ₹63,700–1,23,700 a month (pay scale) | Kerala PSC Category No. 177/2025. Qualification: MBBS or equivalent and valid registration with the Travancore-Cochin Medical Council. Direct recruitment. |
| Medical Officer (MBBS), NHM Kerala, Ernakulam district | ₹50,000 a month, consolidated | Career notification of January 2025: MBBS, permanent registration with the Council of Modern Medicine Kerala, contract or daily-wage basis. |
| Specialist Medical Officer (Surgery or Cardiology), NHM Kerala, Kollam district | ₹78,000 a month, consolidated | Notification of 17 October 2025. Needs a postgraduate degree (MS or DM), so it is not an MBBS-only post. |
| Assistant Professor in a government medical college | As per UGC norms | Kerala PSC notices for this post give no rupee amount and need a postgraduate degree. |
Put simply, a doctor who joins the Assistant Surgeon post at the bottom of the scale starts at ₹63,700 basic a month, about ₹7.6 lakh a year, and the scale rises to ₹1,23,700, about ₹14.8 lakh a year. Those are basic figures before tax. Dearness allowance and other allowances are paid on top under Kerala service rules, but we did not find a current official schedule for them and do not give a total in-hand figure. An NHM doctor at ₹50,000 gets ₹6 lakh a year, with no scale, no permanence and a contract that, in the Kollam notice, starts for three months and can be extended.
The Assistant Surgeon notice carries an age limit of 18–42 for the general category, with only candidates born between 2 January 1983 and 1 January 2007 eligible in that cycle. For a student who joins a Russian university at 18, the timeline below fits inside that limit, but a repeat year or a long FMGE gap eats into it.
What a graduate from Russia must finish before applying
A degree from a Russian state medical university does not by itself open these posts. Under the NMC Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations 2021 the graduate has to pass the screening test, complete a 12-month supervised internship in India and then register. The steps, in order:
- Six years in Russia, including the 12-month internship at the same university, as the NMC rules require.
- FMGE, the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, held by NBEMS. Russian graduates passed at about 25% over 2022–2025 combined; see the FMGE pass rate by university and the FMGE vs NExT post.
- Provisional registration and 12 months of CRMI, the compulsory rotating internship in an Indian medical college or hospital allotted through the State Medical Council. Our post on internship rules and stipend explains it.
- Registration with the Travancore-Cochin Medical Council for work in Kerala.
Add it up: six years of study, a few months to a year for FMGE, and twelve months of internship. Anyone who tells you that a Russian MBBS leads straight to a salary in the seventh year is skipping the exam and the internship. The after MBBS in Russia guide covers this stretch in detail.
Plan the whole route, not only the salary
Send your NEET score and category; we show the cost of the course, FMGE, internship and the first posts you can apply for.
MBBS doctor salary in India: why there is no single number
Pages that quote one "average MBBS salary in India" usually mix government pay, private pay and postgraduate pay. The figure also depends on the state. Each state fixes its own pay scales for its doctors, as the Kerala notice above shows. What can be said with care:
- State governments: pay is set by the state's pay scale, so a post in Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka pays differently. Read the pay line in the recruiting notice, not in a blog.
- Central government: doctors recruited through the UPSC Combined Medical Services examination are reported by several study sites to sit at Level 10 of the pay matrix, with a basic range of ₹56,100–1,77,500. We could not open the UPSC notice itself, so check it on upsc.gov.in before you rely on that figure.
- Contract posts under NHM: a fixed monthly amount that differs by state and district, as in the table above.
- Private hospitals and clinics: no official publication exists. Offers differ by city, speciality and the doctor's experience, and we found no reliable survey. Ask for the offer in writing, with duty hours, night duty and on-call terms, and compare with the NHM figure.
The same rules apply to a graduate from Russia and one from a Kerala college once both are registered. The PSC notice asks for "MBBS or equivalent" and registration, and does not name the country of study. The one practical difference is the extra FMGE and internship time before you are eligible.
Salary during the internship year
While you wait to start earning, the CRMI year is paid as a stipend, not a salary. The NMC's CRMI Regulations 2021 say that all interns are paid a stipend fixed by the appropriate authority of the institution, university or state. NMC circulars of 4 March 2022, 19 May 2022 and 7 December 2023, as reported by the Union Health Minister's reply in Parliament, say that foreign medical graduates are entitled to a stipend, to be set and paid by the state. In August 2026 the Kerala High Court said the same in the case of a graduate who interned at the General Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, and told the state to process his stipend claim within three months.
We found no official stipend figure for foreign graduates in Kerala. The last Kerala order we could trace for house surgeons in government colleges is dated 8 July 2019 and raised the amount from ₹20,000 to ₹25,000 a month, as reported by Medical Dialogues; a later revision may exist. Treat ₹25,000 as old information and ask the hospital for the current rate before you accept a posting.
Salary against the cost of the course
Families often compare the two numbers. A Russian state university outside Moscow costs roughly ₹14–33 lakh in tuition for six years at today's prices, as set out in the Kerala vs Russia fee comparison. Living costs, flights and FMGE preparation come on top. A doctor on the NHM figure of ₹50,000 earns ₹6 lakh a year before tax and living costs, so a ₹25 lakh course is a little over four years of gross pay at that level. On the bottom of the Assistant Surgeon scale it is about three and a quarter years. That is simple arithmetic, not a promise of either post. Government posts are few and competitive, which is why many graduates also work in private hospitals or prepare for NEET-PG to become specialists.
That last step matters for pay. In the NHM notice a specialist surgeon or cardiologist is listed at ₹78,000, against ₹50,000 for a general Medical Officer. A foreign graduate who has registered in India can sit NEET-PG like any other MBBS doctor. If you plan to borrow, size the loan for the course, not for an imagined salary; see the education loan guide and the full fee table.
What to ask before you choose a Russian university for the career you want
- What share of its graduates passed FMGE in the last three NBEMS reports, not just the best year.
- Whether the course is taught in English for the whole of the clinical years, because the NMC requires English.
- How the university supports FMGE preparation from the third year.
- What the total six-year cost is, including a reserve of 10–20% for fee rises and exchange rates.
Get a cost and timeline sheet for the full route
Send your NEET score; we show the years, the cost and the exams between the first day and your first job.
Doctor Salary After MBBS from Russia: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the salary of a government doctor in Kerala?
An Assistant Surgeon in the Kerala Health Services Department is on the pay scale ₹63,700–1,23,700 a month, as the Kerala PSC notice of Category No. 177/2025 shows. This is basic pay, and allowances come on top. The notice asks for an MBBS degree and Travancore-Cochin Medical Council registration.
What does an NHM Kerala Medical Officer earn?
The NHM Ernakulam notification of January 2025 offered ₹50,000 a month, consolidated, for an MBBS Medical Officer on contract. Posts are temporary and tied to the Mission. Salaries can change between notices, so read the latest one on arogyakeralam.gov.in.
Is the salary lower for a doctor with a Russian MBBS?
The government notices we read do not link pay to the country of study. They ask for MBBS and registration. The difference is the time: a graduate from Russia must also clear FMGE and a 12-month internship in India before registering.
How much is the doctor salary in private hospitals in Kerala?
We found no official or reliable published figure, so we do not quote one. Private pay depends on the hospital, speciality and experience. Ask for the offer in writing and compare it with the NHM figure of ₹50,000 a month.
Do interns get a stipend after MBBS from Russia?
The NMC says foreign medical graduates in compulsory rotating internship are entitled to a stipend set and paid by the state, and the Kerala High Court repeated this in August 2026. We found no official Kerala amount for foreign graduates, so ask the hospital for it in writing.
Can a graduate from Russia work in a Kerala government hospital?
Yes, after passing FMGE, completing the Indian internship and registering with the Travancore-Cochin Medical Council. The PSC notice for Assistant Surgeon asks for registration, not for a particular country of study. Check each notice for age limits and equivalence rules.
Sources: Kerala PSC notification, Category No. 177/2025, Assistant Surgeon / Casualty Medical Officer, Health Services (keralapsc.gov.in); National Health Mission Kerala (Arogya Keralam) notifications: Ernakulam career notification of January 2025 and Kollam notification DPMSU-KLM/289/PRO/2025/DPMSU of 17 October 2025; NMC Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship Regulations 2021 (Gazette text, stipend clause); NMC Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations 2021; Union Health Minister's Parliament reply on FMG stipends as reported by Medical Dialogues, 16 August 2026; Kerala High Court, S. Murukan v. State of Kerala (WP(C) 28615/2024) as reported by LiveLaw and Medical Dialogues, August–September 2026; Kerala government order of 8 July 2019 on house surgeon stipend as reported by Medical Dialogues; UPSC CMS pay level as reported by study sites (not checked against the UPSC notice); NBEMS FMGE reports 2022–2025. Checked October 2026.