Career
State PSC Medical Officer Recruitment: How States Hire
15 Oct 2026
12 min read
The state Public Service Commission is often not the body that hires medical officers. Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttarakhand use separate recruitment boards, and the post, the pay, the age limit and the selection method all change with the state. Here is how six states actually do it.
A medical officer post is the most common government job an MBBS graduate takes in India. The first thing to know is that the state Public Service Commission is often not the body that hires. Several states use a separate recruitment board instead, and the rules change with it.
State medical officer recruitment: key takeaways
The recruiting body differs by state. Kerala and Jharkhand recruit through their Public Service Commission. Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttarakhand use a separate board, and Haryana ran its 2024 written test through a state health university.
The post has a different name in each state. Assistant Surgeon in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, General Medical Officer in Bihar, Ordinary Grade Medical Officer in Uttarakhand, Medical Officer in Jharkhand.
Registration is the one universal condition. Every advertisement checked asks for registration with a medical council, and some ask for registration with that particular state's council.
Selection is not always an exam. Tamil Nadu uses a computer based test with no interview. Uttarakhand scores MBBS marks, experience and a viva. Jharkhand ran an interview.
Pay is set by the state, not centrally. The entry scales in these advertisements run from roughly Rs. 56,100 to Rs. 63,700 at the minimum.
A foreign medical graduate is scored differently in at least one state. Uttarakhand marks a foreign graduate on the screening examination result in place of MBBS marks.
Who actually recruits medical officers in your state?
Start here, because applying to the wrong body wastes the cycle.
State | Recruiting body | What the post is called |
|---|---|---|
Tamil Nadu | Medical Services Recruitment Board | Assistant Surgeon (General) |
Kerala | Kerala Public Service Commission | Assistant Surgeon or Casualty Medical Officer |
Uttarakhand | Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board | Ordinary Grade Medical Officer |
Jharkhand | Jharkhand Public Service Commission | Medical Officer |
Bihar | Bihar Technical Service Commission | General Medical Officer |
Haryana | Health Department, with a state health university running the written test | Medical Officer |
The pattern matters more than the list. Where a state has a technical or medical services board, doctors are recruited there and the Public Service Commission does not advertise the post at all. Our page on government jobs after MBBS maps the wider set of options, and the NEET hub covers the stage before this one.
Medical officer eligibility and the registration rule
The degree is the easy part. Registration is where applications fail.
Tamil Nadu. MBBS from a recognised institution, plus house surgeoncy of not less than twelve months. The name must be registered in the Tamil Nadu Medical Council on or before the date of the notification.
Kerala. A degree in modern medicine, and valid registration with the Travancore Cochin Medical Council.
Uttarakhand. MBBS, with valid permanent registration from the medical council of any state in the country, held by the last date of online application and uploaded with the form.
Jharkhand. MBBS, at least one year of internship from a recognised medical college hospital, and registration with a medical council.
Read Tamil Nadu and Kerala again. Both ask for registration with that state's own council, not any council. Uttarakhand accepts any state council but fixes the deadline at the application date rather than the interview. Our guide to checking the Indian Medical Register shows what a completed registration looks like.
How to apply for a medical officer post, step by step
Find the right body first. Check whether your state uses the Public Service Commission or a separate recruitment board, and watch that site rather than the other one.
Get registration in place before the advertisement. Where the state asks for its own council, this can take longer than the application window.
Check the age cut-off date, not just the age limit. Each advertisement fixes a date on which your age is calculated.
Apply online and pay the fee. The fee is non-refundable in every advertisement checked here, and Kerala charges none at all.
Sit whatever the state uses. A written test, a computer based test, a viva, or document verification followed by an interview.
Keep originals ready for verification. Degree, internship completion, registration certificate, category and identity proofs.
How medical officer selection works, state by state
State | How candidates are ranked |
|---|---|
Tamil Nadu | A Tamil eligibility test, then a computer based test of 100 questions in two hours, with no oral interview |
Uttarakhand | 100 marks: MBBS marks 20, extra qualification 10, government experience 20, viva voce 50 |
Jharkhand | Document verification, then an interview |
Kerala | Direct recruitment by the Commission, leading to a ranked list |
The Tamil Nadu paper is worth understanding in detail. The Assistant Surgeon notification of 21 November 2025 sets the qualifying mark at 30 per cent for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates and 35 per cent for others. There is no negative marking. The Tamil eligibility test must be passed at 40 per cent, and its marks are not counted in the ranking.
Uttarakhand is the opposite design. Half the marks sit in the viva, and a quarter are already decided before you apply, by your MBBS percentage and your years of government experience. The Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board advertisement awards 5 marks for an MBBS percentage of 50 to 54.99 and 20 marks at 65 and above. Government service earns 4 marks for each completed year, up to 20.
Private sector experience earns nothing there. Only service in state, central or autonomous government hospitals and government medical colleges counts.
Medical officer salary by state
State | Scale stated in the advertisement |
|---|---|
Kerala | Rs. 63,700 to Rs. 1,23,700 |
Tamil Nadu | Level 22, Rs. 56,100 to Rs. 2,05,700 |
Uttarakhand | Level 10, Rs. 56,100 to Rs. 1,77,500 |
Jharkhand | Pay Band 2, Rs. 9,300 to Rs. 34,800, with grade pay of Rs. 5,400 |
Compare the starting figures and the ceilings separately. Kerala starts highest at Rs. 63,700, while Tamil Nadu starts lower and runs much further, to Rs. 2,05,700. A scale is a career, not a salary.
The Uttarakhand post is gazetted and falls under the contributory pension scheme, which the advertisement states plainly. That detail decides more about lifetime earnings than the entry figure does.
Medical officer age limits
Tamil Nadu. 37 years for the Others category, with no maximum age limit for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Most Backward Class and Backward Class candidates.
Kerala. Candidates born between 2 January 1983 and 1 January 2007, which is 18 to 42, with the usual relaxations.
Uttarakhand. 21 to 42 years on the stated cut-off date, with relaxations for state reserved categories, persons with disabilities and ex-servicemen.
Jharkhand. A minimum age of 23 years, with the upper limit set by category.
Tamil Nadu's rule is the one people misread. For several categories the notification says there is no maximum age limit at all, which is unusual in Indian government recruitment.
Is there a bond for a medical officer post?
Not in the way a college bond works, and this surprises people.
None of the advertisements checked here attaches a rupee penalty to the job itself. Tamil Nadu comes closest with an undertaking, not a bond. A candidate must be willing to serve in government medical institutions for not less than three years, and may not take up any course for two years after joining.
Kerala attaches a different condition. An appointee may be required to serve four years in defence service during the first ten years of service, and candidates over 45 and persons with disabilities are exempt.
The bond most doctors think of is the college bond, signed at admission rather than at appointment, and it runs separately from all of this.
What a foreign medical graduate should know
This is the detail that makes the Uttarakhand advertisement worth reading even if you never apply there.
It states that a candidate who passed MBBS outside the country, and has cleared the screening examination, is assessed on the marks obtained in that examination. Those marks replace MBBS marks. The screening test result stops being pass or fail and becomes a score that decides your rank.
Our note on what the NMC rules currently say about FMGE and NExT is kept current, and the deferred NExT web story covers the position in short form.
That is one state's rule, not a national one. It does show how a state can translate a foreign qualification into its own marking scheme. Our explainer on what the FMGE exam is and our guide to the FMG internship and registration cover the steps that come before any of this.
How often does each state recruit?
There is no fixed national calendar, and the honest answer is that it depends on vacancies.
Uttarakhand. The board advertised 314 posts in November 2019 and 763 posts in August 2020, so two cycles fell within ten months.
Bihar. The General Medical Officer advertisement 19 of 2025 opened on 11 March 2025 and closed on 8 April 2025, and specialist posts were advertised alongside it as a separate block.
Kerala. A ranked list stays usable for at least a year and up to three, so a single notification keeps producing appointments long after it closes.
Haryana. The 2024 notification for 777 medical officer posts set a single written test date of 3 September 2024.
The practical answer is to watch the right website rather than wait for a season. A state can advertise twice in a year and then not at all for two.
Who cannot apply for a medical officer post
Anyone without council registration on the stated date. Not the interview date, the date the advertisement fixes.
Anyone registered with the wrong council. Tamil Nadu and Kerala name their own state councils in the notification.
Anyone who has not completed internship. Tamil Nadu asks for twelve months of house surgeoncy, Jharkhand for a year of internship.
Anyone outside the age band on the cut-off date. Each state fixes its own date, and they do not match.
Anyone relying on private sector experience in Uttarakhand. Only government service earns experience marks there.
What if you do not get a medical officer post
Apply in another state. Uttarakhand accepts registration from any state council, so your options are wider than your own state.
Take the central route. The Union Public Service Commission fills central medical posts through its own examination, covered in our page on government jobs after MBBS.
Add a postgraduate degree. A specialist post pays more and competes in a smaller field, and NEET PG counselling is the route to it.
Build government experience deliberately. In a state that scores experience, a contract post in a government hospital adds marks that private work never will.
Weigh the alternatives honestly. Our comparison of which course is best after MBBS sets out what else the degree opens.
Consider licensing exams abroad. The United Kingdom route runs through the General Medical Council's PLAB test, and the United States through the USMLE.
State medical officer recruitment: the bottom line
There is no single Indian medical officer examination, and treating it as one costs people a year.
Work out which body recruits in the states you would actually move to, get your council registration done early, and read the marking scheme before the syllabus. In a state like Uttarakhand, a quarter of your score was decided while you were still in college.
Medical officer recruitment: frequently asked questions
Sources
Kerala Public Service Commission, Extraordinary Gazette of 31 July 2025, Category 177/2025
Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board, Ordinary Grade Medical Officer advertisement
Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board, recruitment advertisements
Jharkhand Public Service Commission, Medical Officer advertisement 19/2023
Bihar Technical Service Commission, General Medical Officer advertisement 19/2025
Department of Health, Haryana, notification on recruitment of 777 medical officer posts
Related Topics
- medical officer
- state PSC
- government job
- MBBS
- assistant surgeon
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