Where white merges with olive
Gauri Chhabra
Qualified doctors with a passion for serving the armed forces can chart out an exciting and challenging career by becoming a part of the different armed forces medical units and serve as “doctors in uniform”. The Army Medical Corps, also known as AMC is a specialist corps in the Indian Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel. Armed Forces Medical Services is the first tri-service (Army, Navy and Air Force) organisation and one of the largest organised medical services in the country that provides medical support to the armed forces during war as well as comprehensive health care to all service personnel, ex-servicemen and their dependents during peace. It also provides medical aid during natural calamities both at national and international level.
Getting in
Freshers with an MBBS degree can join the armed forces as a doctor in Short Service Commission only. Applications for this are invited both through the official website of the Indian Army and all leading newspapers. Those who are doing their internship can also apply provided they complete it two months after the interview date. The eligibility for the same is as follows:
- The candidate should be an Indian national
- Have an MBBS Degree (House Surgeons can apply provided they complete their internship in time)
- have normal vision / corrected vision of 6/6
- have no physical disabilities
- Prescribed height and weight
Female candidates should not be pregnant while enrollment
The maximum age limit for AFMS Recruitment is 45 years as on December 31, 2016. The candidates must have permanent registration from any State Medical Council/MCI.
Those with a post graduate degree/diploma like MD/ MS/ MCH/ DM/ DNB/ DLO/ DOMS/ DA, can also apply. However, those who have taken more than two chances in final MBBS (Part I &II) examination are ineligible for the Armed Forces Medical Services Recruitment 2016.
Eligible candidates can apply online for the Armed Forces Medical Services Recruitment at the official website www.amcsscentry.gov.in.
Interview
Candidates are shortlisted based on the performance in the interview conducted by a Board of Officers to assess their suitability and merit for grant of Short Service Commission. It is based on topics like Emergency Medicine, including first aid and CPCR,BLS and ACLS guideline, Management of Burns, Electric Shock, Fracture, Trauma, Head Injury, Injury to Spine and other medical topics.
Based on the results of the interview, shortlisted candidates are subjected to medical examination at designated Armed Forces hospitals in New Delhi. Medically fit candidates are granted commission subject to verification procedures as deemed necessary as required for commissioning. On being commissioned into the Armed Forces Medical Services one will be granted the rank of Captain or equivalent rank in Navy or Air Force, plus grade pay, non-practicing allowance, free rations, subsidised accommodation and so on.
Appointment- Short Service Commission(SSC) and Permanent Commission
Recruitment to the medical posts is through Permanent Commission (PC) and Short Service Commission (SSC). Fifty per cent of the graduates passing out from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, are taken directly into Permanent Commission and the rest are offered Short Service Commission. Doctors from civil medical colleges are offered only SSC entry. SSC officers are required to serve for a minimum period of five years. The SSC may be extended by another two terms of five years and then four years upto a maximum of 14 years. AFMC graduates offered SSC are required to serve for a minimum period of 7 years extendable by another 7 years.
After two years of service, you’ll be provided three opportunities for appearing for Permanent Commission Interview. The eligibility is minimum 2 years of service and maximum 8 years of service. The age limit is less than 30 for MBBS, 31 for Diploma holders, 35 for Post Graduates, and you would be given maximum three attempts.
A candidate with previous commissioned service in the Army Medical Corps will be entitled to extension of the above age limits for the full period of previous reckonable service if such service was rendered while in possession of a medical qualification recognised by the Indian Medical Council.
Entry
Your rank on entry would be Lieutenant, for those who are in possession of provisional medical registration at the time of 1st commission and Captain, for those who are in possession of permanent medical registration at the time of 1st commission. However, AMC officers serving with Navy and Air Force will wear equivalent ranks of those services.
An officer will be on probation for two years from the date he receives his commission. If an officer is reported upon during his probation period as unsuitable to retain his commission, it may be terminated at any time before or after the expiry of the probationary period with one month's notice.
Training
On getting Permanent Commission in the Army Medical Corps, officers undergo preliminary training and test prescribed by the DGAFMS. While undergoing this training officers will be considered as on general duty. The appointment of an officer who fails to obtain a reasonable standard of proficiency or who is not satisfactorily reported upon during his training is liable to be terminated.
Summing up
Therefore, all of you who aspire to get into medicine and also serve the country, AMC is the right option for you. It is one career that you make you touch the pinnacle of both professional and personal growth at every stage of the career. So gear up and get ready for it…
Institute scape
Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune
Armed Forces Medical College is a premier medical institute of India that provides training to under-graduate and post-graduate medical and nursing students with assured career prospects in the defence services. Medical students who have completed or are in Class XII can apply for AFMC Pune if they want to join the armed forces. Selection is made on the basis of AIPMT/NEET and ToELR (Test of English Language, Comprehension, Logic and Reasoning), Psychological assessment-cum-interview. ToELR is a Computer Based Test consisting of 40 MCQs of 2.0 marks. There will be negative marks of 0.5 for every incorrect answer. The 40 questions will be required to be answered in 30 minutes. The marks obtained in ToELR are added to NEET score (max of 720) to get a score out of 800. This will be divided by 4 to get the written examination score out of 200. The interview will consist of 50 marks. The final AFMC MBBS merit is based on the final score thus obtained in written examination score + interview marks.
AFMC MBBS 2016 admission will be done for 130 MBBS seats. Out of these 105 are reserved for boys and 25 are for girls. And total of 10 seats are reserved for scheduled castes/scheduled tribe candidates.
Besides, professional degree the candidates must be in good physical and mental health and free from any disability that is likely to interfere with the efficient performance of duty in the armed forces.
Medical examination will be done by a Board of Officers at AFMC Pune, prior to admission to the college.
Eligibility: Candidates applying for AFMC MBBS 2016 must be a citizen of India and must complete 17 years of age as on December 31, 2016. The upper age limit for candidates for AFMC MBBS 2016 is 22 years which means candidates must have born not earlier than January 01, 1995 and not later than December 31, 1999.
After MBBS, you will have compulsory liability to serve as Commissioned Officers in the Armed Forces Medical Services. The offer of the type of commission will depend on the vacancies available. At the time of admission, the candidates’ parents are required to sign a bond agreement of the same.
