Career as General Physician

Last Updated On 05 Apr, 2021

How to Become a General Physician

About General Physician

General Physician is also referred to as a family doctor. He/she is the one who patients come to see on a regular basis. In short, a General Physician is a doctor who deals with the diagnosis and treatment of general health problems or disorders ranging from cold, cough, and nausea to chronic diseases such as jaundice, cholera, etc. Apart from diagnosing and treating health problems, they also provide detailed information to patients about daily-routine diet, health plans, and nutritional value in the meal.

Eligibility to become General Physician

In order to become a General Physician, students need to plan their career from the 12th standard. The first step to becoming a General Physician is to clear class 12 exams in the Science stream with mandatory subjects such as Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The admission to the most prestigious medical colleges/ institutes is solely done on the basis of marks secured in the entrance examination organised by the concerned authority.

Subject Combination – Students must have a Science stream in Class 12 with the mandatory subjects Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB)

Exam – NEET-UG, NEET- PG, AIIMS Medical entrance exam, JIPMER MBBS etc.

Eligibility -

Undergraduate Level:

  • Candidates should have passed class 12 examination with science stream from a recognised university/board.
  • The percentage requirement is 50% and above for most of the Universities/ institutions/ colleges. There has been a considerable reduction in marks for the reserved categories (OBC / SC / ST and PWD’s).
  • Candidates should be between 17 and 25 years.

Postgraduate Level:

  • Candidates must have M.B.B.S degree from an institution recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
  • For the doctoral programme (Ph.D.), candidates must have a master’s degree (M.D/ M.S or M.Sc in Medicine).
  • There are also age limit criteria in some colleges/ universities.

 

Types of Job Roles General Physician

A General Physician is a someone whose practice is not limited to a specific medical stream, but a wide range of medical problems. Also, a General Physician is commonly referred to as ‘General Practitioner’ in North America, United Kingdom, Ireland and various other commonwealth countries. Basically, a General Physician works within a private practice such as clinics, hospitals, NGOs etc. while some work in other medical facilities. If a patient has a life-threatening health problem, then a General Physician refers the patient to a Specialist in that field. Prior to referring a patient to a Specialist, a General Physician will diagnose the illness/disease and injuries of the patient. The General Physician does not have a specialty area, but still, there is extensive knowledge to provide primary care.

Employment Opportunities for General Physician

The qualified general physicians have great employment opportunities in government dispensaries or private hospitals in both urban and rural areas. They can also open up private clinics. Apart from joining a private or government hospitals, General Physicians can find lucrative placements in corporate hospitals with huge salaries. The following are some of the organisations where General Physicians can take up jobs:

Private Clinics: A private clinic is a healthcare facility that focuses primarily on the care of outpatients. A private clinic can be operated privately or publicly, managed and funded.

Private Hospitals: A private hospital is a hospital owned by a beneficial company or a non-profit organization and is privately funded by the insurers, through national health insurance programmes, or through foreign embassies through the payment of medical services to patients themselves.

Government/Public Hospitals: A government hospital or a public hospital is a hospital owned and funded by the government. In some hospitals, medical care is provided free of charge, whose cost is covered by government reimbursement.

Primary Health Centers: Primary Health Center (PHC), sometimes called Public Health Center, has state-owned rural health care facilities in India. They are essentially a single medical clinic and has facilities for minor surgeries too.

Military Hospital: A Military Hospital is a hospital owned and operated by the armed forces. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well.

NGO's and NPO: NGO or NPO is a social voluntary organisation of individuals, group of persons, community, persons, volunteer engaged in social welfare and social development.

Schools: In this area, a physician is employed to make periodic examinations of the children of a school or of the schools of a community.

Embassies: In this area, their primary role is to take care of the embassy personnel and their families, provide basic medical services and assess the suitability of local hospitals.

Top Recruiting Organisations for General Physicians

Take a look at these organizations that hire General Physicians:

Private Hospitals:

  • Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre
  • Tata Memorial Hospital
  • Kokilaben Hospital
  • Medanta (The Medicity)
  • Moolchand Hospital, New Delhi
  • Fortis
  • Apollo Hospital
  • Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

Government Hospitals:

  • All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS)
  • PGIMER, Chandigarh
  • Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi
  • Christian Medical College Vellore, Tamil Nadu
  • Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, New Delhi
  • Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi
  • King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra

NGOs:

  • GOONJ - A Voice, An Effort
  • Help Age India
  • K.C Mahindra Education Trust (Nanhi Kali)
  • LEPRA India
  • Pratham Education Foundation
  • Sammaan Foundation
  • Sargam Sanstha
  • Smile Foundation

Military Hospitals:

  • Command Hospital Kolkata, Eastern Command (Army)
  • Command Hospital Chandimandir Cantonment, Western Command (Army)
  • Command Hospital Udhampur, Northern Command (Army)
  • Command Hospital Lucknow, Central Command (Army)
  • Command Hospital Pune, Southern Command (Army)
  • Command Hospital Bangalore, South (Air Force)

Planning to choose General Physician as your career?

Pay Scale/Salary of General Physician

The work of a General Physician is very respectable. As a Physician, through consultation fees and his or her private practices, one can earn a decent amount of money. Earnings depend entirely on the number of years in experience/practice, geographic area (rural/urban), number of workings hours, skills, proficiency and professional reputation of the General Physician. The salary of a General Physician may differ according to their knowledge, skills and experience. It usually increases with knowledge growth and time. Here are some relative salary figures for General Physicians:

 

Job Profile

Starting Salary per annum (in INR)

Mid Level Salary per annum (in INR)

Senior Level Salary per annum (INR)

Physician / Doctor, General Practice

2,46,258

5,96,394

12,10,529

 

Note: The above figures are an estimate and may vary from individual to individual.

Books & Study Material to Become General Physician

In order to pursue a career as a General Physician, one has to burn the midnight oil and qualify the medical entrance exams in India that make a person eligible to practice medicine. Taking these entrance exams requires a great deal of preparation and books are the best sources to cover the syllabus. Therefore, we've compiled a list of some of the best books that you must have in order to crack medical entrance exams in India.

Best Books for Undergraduate Level:

Physics:

  • Fundamental Physics by Pradeep
  • Concepts of Physics by H. C. Verma
  • Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
  • Objective Physics By DC Pandey
  • Problems in General Physics by IE Irodov
  • NCERT Physics Class XI & Class XII

 

Chemistry:

  • Concise Inorganic Chemistry by JD Lee
  • Physical Chemistry by OP Tandon
  • Practice Books by VK Jaiswal (Inorganic), MS Chauhan (Organic) and N Awasthi (Physical)
  • NCERT Chemistry textbooks for Class XI and XII
  • ABC of Chemistry for Classes 11 and 12 by Modern
  • Dinesh Chemistry Guide

 

Biology:

  • GR Bathla Publications for Biology
  • NCERT Biology Class XI and Class XII textbooks
  • Pradeep Guide on Biology
  • Biology Vol 1 and Vol 2 by Trueman
  • Objective Botany by Ansari
  • Objective Biology by Dinesh

 

Best Books for Postgraduate Level:

  • All India Previous Years' Solved Papers by Mudit Khanna
  • AIIMS Solved Papers by Amit and Ashish
  • Tehalaka by Dr. Rajesh Prasad (it contains solved MCQs of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and forensic medicine)
  • Sure Success by Ramgopal
  • Pathology by Sparsh Gupta or Devesh Mishra
  • Microbiology by Rachna Chaurasia
  • Forensic Medicine by ACROSS or Dr. Gaurav Aggarwal or Arvind Arora
  • Medicine by Deepak Marwah or Mudit Khanna
  • Surgery by Pritesh Singh or SRB

Pros of becoming a General Physician

  • Good growth and attractive perks.
  • Respect among people and society.
  • Flexibility of working either in a hospital or starting a clinic of your own.

Cons of becoming a General Physician

  • A general physician needs to be a jack of all trades in the medical stream.
  • Long and irregular working hours.
  • Not many facilities in rural hospitals.

Do you think this is the right career choice for you?

Take our test and find out if it suits your strengths.

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FAQs about General Physician

I am pursuing M.B.B.S. (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) to become a General Physician. What other career options do I have ?

You could become a Paediatrician , a Surgeon , a Psychiatrist , a Physician after studying M.B.B.S. (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery).

Confused on what to choose as your career?

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