UPSC CMS 2027: Dates, Eligibility, Posts, Salary, Syllabus

UPSC CMS 2027 is the Combined Medical Services Examination, and the Union Public Service Commission has already fixed its dates. The notification is due on 3 March 2027, applications close on 23 March 2027, and the written exam is on Sunday 18 July 2027.

UPSC CMS 2027: key takeaways

• The dates are official, not guesses. They come from the UPSC Annual Calendar for 2027, published by the Commission itself.

• The exam fills four kinds of posts. Medical Officer in the Central Health Service, Assistant Divisional Medical Officer in the Railways, and General Duty Medical Officer posts in the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

• A final MBBS pass is the qualification. Candidates who are yet to sit or yet to clear the final MBBS may still apply, provisionally.

• Internship can still be pending. You are eligible to sit the exam before finishing the compulsory rotating internship, but appointment comes only after you complete it.

• The age bar is 32, with one exception. For the Central Health Service Medical Officer posts the upper limit is 35.

• Entry pay is Level 10 of the pay matrix, Rs 56,100 to Rs 1,77,500, plus Non-Practising Allowance. Private practice is prohibited in every one of these posts.

• Vacancies jumped in 2026. From 705 in 2025 to 1,358 in 2026, almost entirely because Central Health Service vacancies rose from 226 to 864.

UPSC CMS 2027 at a glance

When is the UPSC CMS 2027 exam?

The UPSC Annual Calendar for 2027 sets three dates for this exam. The notification appears on 3 March 2027. Applications close on 23 March 2027. The written exam runs on 18 July 2027, a Sunday, as a one day exam.

Those dates are firm enough to plan around, but the notification is still the document that governs. It is the notification, not the calendar, that carries the vacancies, the fee and the cut-off date for age. The Commission publishes it on the exam calendar page and on the exam's own page the same day.

Which posts does UPSC CMS 2027 recruit for?

Four posts, in two categories. The 2026 notification set them out with the vacancy count against each, and the structure has not changed for years.

• Category I: Medical Officers Grade in the General Duty Medical Officers Sub-cadre of the Central Health Service. These doctors can be posted anywhere in India, in any hospital or dispensary under any organisation that takes part in the Central Health Service.

• Category II, Assistant Divisional Medical Officer in the Railways. A Group A Junior Scale post in the Indian Railway Health Service, with liability to transfer to any Railway.

• Category II, General Duty Medical Officer in the New Delhi Municipal Council. Posting anywhere within NDMC jurisdiction, including hospitals, dispensaries and primary health centres.

• Category II, General Duty Medical Officer Grade II in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Entry at the first cell of Level 10, Rs 56,100.

How many vacancies does UPSC CMS have?

The number moves year to year, and 2026 was a sharp jump. Here is what the notifications actually said.

Two things stand out. The Railway figure has been 450 for three years running, so it behaves like a fixed annual intake, which in 2026 was about 33% of all the posts on offer. The Central Health Service figure is the one that swings, and in 2026 it rose by roughly 280%. The Delhi municipal numbers are small and volatile, which is why a year with 200 MCD posts is not a guide to the next one.

Who is eligible for UPSC CMS 2027?

Three conditions have to be met together: nationality, age and the medical qualification.

Nationality. A candidate must be a citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan, or a Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 intending to settle permanently, or a person of Indian origin who has migrated from one of the listed countries intending to settle permanently. Everyone outside the first group needs a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India before an offer of appointment.

Age. In 2026 a candidate had to be under 32 on 1 August 2026, except for the Central Health Service Medical Officer posts where the upper limit was 35 on the same date. The cut-off date moves with the exam, so read it in the 2027 notification rather than assuming.

Qualification. You must have passed the written and practical parts of the final MBBS examination. If you have appeared, or are yet to appear, you can still apply. Your admission is then provisional and is cancelled unless you produce proof of passing within the time limit the notification prescribes.

If you are still choosing a route into medicine, our guide on how to become a doctor in India covers the stages before this one, and government jobs after MBBS puts this exam beside the other public sector options.

What are the age relaxations?

• Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates: up to five years.

• Other Backward Classes candidates eligible for reservation: up to three years. The OBC Non-Creamy Layer certificate has to be based on the prescribed financial years and issued within the window the notification sets, which our OBC non-creamy layer certificate explainer walks through.

• Defence Services personnel disabled in operations: up to three years.

• Ex-servicemen, including Commissioned Officers and ECOs or SSCOs with at least five years of military service and released on the grounds the notification lists: up to five years.

• ECOs and SSCOs who completed the initial five year assignment and whose assignment was extended, where the Ministry of Defence issues the prescribed certificate: up to five years.

Can I sit UPSC CMS before my internship ends?

Yes. The notification is explicit on this point. A candidate who has yet to complete the compulsory rotating internship is educationally eligible to sit the exam. The catch sits on the other side: on selection, appointment happens only after the internship is complete.

This matters for timing. An intern finishing in mid 2027 can write the July paper, go through the Personality Test, and join without losing a year. Our note on PG resident stipends in India is useful if you are weighing this against a residency instead.

What is the UPSC CMS 2027 exam pattern?

The exam has two parts and 600 marks in total.

Part I, Written Examination, 500 marks. Two papers, each of 250 marks and two hours. Paper I is General Medicine and Paediatrics, with 120 questions, 96 from General Medicine and 24 from Paediatrics. Paper II is Surgery, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, and Preventive and Social Medicine, also 120 questions, 40 from each part. Both papers are entirely objective and the question papers are set in English only. Both are of MBBS standard.

Part II, Personality Test, 100 marks. Candidates who qualify in the written exam are called for it. The Commission describes it as a supplement to the written exam, testing general knowledge and ability in the candidate's field of study, and assessing intellectual curiosity, critical powers of assimilation, balance of judgement, alertness of mind, ability for social cohesion, integrity of character, initiative and capability for leadership.

Is there negative marking in UPSC CMS?

Yes, and it is heavier than many candidates assume. Each question has four alternatives. For every wrong answer, one third of the marks assigned to that question, 0.33, is deducted as a penalty. Marking more than one answer counts as a wrong answer even if one of them is correct, and attracts the same penalty. A question left blank carries no penalty at all.

In practice that makes a wild guess a losing bet. With four options, blind guessing returns one correct for every three wrong, and at a third of a mark deducted per wrong answer the gain and the loss cancel out exactly. Calculators are not permitted and should not be brought into the hall.

UPSC CMS 2027 syllabus, paper by paper

The syllabus is published in Appendix I of the notification. It is an MBBS syllabus, not a separate one.

Paper I, General Medicine covers cardiology, respiratory diseases, gastro-intestinal, genito-urinary, neurology, haematology, endocrinology, metabolic disorders, infections and communicable diseases, nutrition and growth, dermatology, musculoskeletal system, psychiatry, emergency medicine, common poisoning, snake bite, tropical medicine, critical care medicine, medical procedures, the pathophysiological basis of disease, vaccine preventable and non vaccine preventable diseases and vitamin deficiency diseases. Psychiatry is named down to depression, psychosis, anxiety, bipolar disease and schizophrenia.

Paper I, Paediatrics covers common childhood emergencies, basic new born care, normal developmental milestones, accidents and poisonings in children, birth defects and counselling including autism, immunisation in children, recognising children with special needs and their management, and national programmes related to child health.

Paper II, Surgery includes general surgery, urological surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, thoracic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology, anaesthesiology, traumatology, and the diagnosis and management of common surgical ailments.

Paper II, Gynaecology and Obstetrics covers ante-natal, intra-natal and post-natal conditions, management of normal and complicated labour, applied anatomy and the physiology of menstruation and fertilisation, genital tract infections and neoplasms, high risk pregnancy, abortions, intrauterine growth retardation, medicolegal examination, and family planning.

Paper II, Preventive and Social Medicine covers concepts of health and disease, health administration and planning, general epidemiology, demography and health statistics, communicable diseases, environmental health, nutrition, non-communicable diseases, occupational health, genetics and health, international health, medical sociology and health education, maternal and child health, national programmes, and the ability to recognise, investigate, report, plan and manage community health problems.

What salary does a UPSC CMS post pay?

All four posts start at Level 10 of the pay matrix, Rs 56,100 to Rs 1,77,500, with Non-Practising Allowance on top as per the orders in force.

One rule applies to all of them and deserves attention before you apply. Private practice of any kind is prohibited, and in the Central Health Service that explicitly includes laboratory and consultant practice. The Railways post adds that the candidate is bound by any order restricting private practice that the Ministry of Railways issues. If a parallel private practice is part of your plan, this is the wrong exam.

What were the UPSC CMS cut-offs?

The Commission publishes category-wise cut-offs after each result. These are the 2024 figures, written out of 500 and final out of 600.

Read the General row carefully. A written cut-off of 309 out of 500 in 2024 is close to 62%, on a paper with negative marking and no optional subjects. There is also a floor that catches people: a minimum of 25 marks in each paper for non-PwBD candidates, and a minimum of 10 marks in each paper for PwBD candidates. Clearing the aggregate is not enough if one paper falls below its floor. The current year's figures appear on the Commission's cut-off marks page.

How to apply for UPSC CMS 2027

1. Create your account on the online portal first. The UPSC online application portal has four modules. Account creation, Universal Registration and the Common Application Form are common to every UPSC exam and can be filled at any time.

2. Get your Universal Registration Number. Registering generates a URN that is common across all UPSC examinations, so this step is done once, not once per exam.

3. Fill the exam-specific module during the window. This is the only part that is tied to the notification dates, so it has to be done between 3 March and 23 March 2027.

4. Pay the fee of Rs 200. Net banking, Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, credit card, debit card or UPI. Female, SC, ST and PwBD candidates are exempt.

5. Choose your centre early. There were 48 centres in 2026 and allotment is first-apply-first-allot. Every centre has a ceiling except Chennai, Delhi, Dispur, Kolkata and Nagpur, so a late application can mean a long journey.

6. Keep your certificates ready for the Personality Test. Age, educational qualification, community and benchmark disability proofs are checked at that stage, not before.

Can a foreign medical graduate sit UPSC CMS 2027?

The notification's educational requirement is a pass in the written and practical parts of the final MBBS examination. It does not restrict that to Indian medical colleges. What a foreign medical graduate does have to settle separately is the right to practise in India, which runs through the FMGE and registration with a state medical council.

So the sequence for an MBBS abroad graduate is the ordinary one: finish the degree, qualify in the screening test, complete the supervised internship in India, and register. Our guides to the FMG internship and registration and checking the Indian Medical Register set out that paperwork, and the FMGE licence rule explainer covers the exam itself. Before any of that, confirm your medical school is listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, which is the international directory regulators use to check that a school exists and is recognised in its own country.

UPSC CMS 2027 against the other routes after MBBS

This exam is one of several doors, and they do not all open at the same time of year. NEET PG and INI CET lead to a specialisation. UPSC CMS leads to a government job as a general duty doctor, with a specialisation deferred or dropped. The Armed Forces route is separate again, and our page on becoming a military doctor covers it.

The honest comparison is about what you want at 30. A Central Health Service post gives you a Level 10 salary, a pension track and a posting anywhere in India, starting roughly a year after you finish MBBS. A PG seat gives you a specialisation and higher earning potential later, after three more years of training. Our comparisons of INI CET against NEET PG and which course is best after MBBS go into that choice, and doctor versus IAS covers the civil services angle for anyone drawn to the UPSC route generally.

Common mistakes that cost candidates a UPSC CMS attempt

• Applying late and losing the centre. Allotment is first-apply-first-allot with ceilings at 43 of the 48 centres.

• Guessing freely in the paper. At 0.33 deducted per wrong answer out of four options, blind guessing returns nothing on average.

• Failing a paper floor. Twenty-five marks in each paper for non-PwBD candidates is a hard minimum, whatever the total says.

• Carrying the wrong OBC or EWS certificate. The notification specifies which financial years the income has to be based on and the window in which the certificate must be issued.

• Assuming last year's age cut-off date. It is tied to the exam year, so 1 August 2026 for the 2026 exam does not tell you the 2027 date.

• Planning on private practice. It is prohibited in all four posts, and in the Central Health Service that covers laboratory and consultant work as well.

UPSC CMS 2027: what to do now

UPSC CMS 2027 is one of the few medical exams where you can plan a year ahead with official dates in hand: notification on 3 March, applications closing 23 March, paper on 18 July. The rest of the detail will come in the notification itself, and the figures that matter most, vacancies and the age cut-off date, are exactly the ones that change each year.

If you are an MBBS student or intern reading this in 2026, the useful work now is not syllabus work. It is keeping your certificates current, deciding honestly whether a general duty government post or a specialisation is what you want, and registering on the UPSC portal early so that the exam-specific form in March takes minutes rather than days.

UPSC CMS 2027: frequently asked questions

Sources

• UPSC Annual Calendar of Examinations for the year 2027

• UPSC, Annual Calendar 2027 page

• UPSC, Combined Medical Services Examination 2026 notification, Examination Notice No. 9/2026-CMS

• UPSC, Combined Medical Services Examination 2024 recommendation details and category-wise cut-off marks

• UPSC, cut-off marks for all examinations

• UPSC online application portal

• World Directory of Medical Schools