MD Pulmonary Medicine 2026: An Underrated Branch With Growing Demand

MD Pulmonary Medicine trains doctors to treat asthma, COPD, tuberculosis, lung cancer and post-COVID lung damage. India carries the world’s highest TB burden and ranks among the top countries for COPD cases, yet this branch still sits far below Radiology or Dermatology in NEET PG preference lists. That gap is part of why demand for trained pulmonologists keeps rising. This guide covers NEET PG eligibility, 2026 cutoff trends, fees, seats, colleges, course structure and career scope for MD Pulmonary Medicine, also listed as MD Respiratory Medicine or MD TB and Chest.

What Is MD Pulmonary Medicine?

MD Pulmonary Medicine is a three-year postgraduate MBBS course that trains doctors in diseases of the lungs and airways. NMC’s recognised course list carries this specialty under a few different names across colleges: MD Respiratory Medicine, MD TB and Chest, MD Thoracic Medicine, and MD Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases/Pulmonary Medicine. These are different nomenclatures for the same broad specialty rather than one single standardised degree title, so the exact name on your certificate depends on the college and state you join. A pulmonologist manages tuberculosis, asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease, sleep apnoea, lung cancer and critical respiratory illness, working closely with critical care and infectious disease teams.

Why Does Pulmonary Medicine Stay an Underrated Branch?

Ask ten NEET PG aspirants to rank their top five branches and Pulmonary Medicine rarely makes the list. Radiology, Dermatology and General Medicine dominate the conversation instead. Look at the disease burden data, though, and the mismatch becomes clear.

• India accounted for about 25% of global incident TB cases in 2024, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025.
• India accounted for 32% of the world’s MDR/RR-TB cases, per the same WHO report.
• India’s TB incidence fell 21% between 2015 and 2024, from 237 to 187 cases per lakh population, the fastest decline among high-burden countries. The country still carries the largest absolute TB burden in the world.
• Roughly 38 million Indians live with COPD, a figure drawn from Global Burden of Disease 2019 estimates cited in the Indian Journal of Public Health, not a live 2026 headcount.
• A 2026 ecological analysis published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that state-level PM2.5 exposure and TB-related lung damage map onto regions with higher COPD burden in India, an early but notable signal that air pollution and past TB infection may be compounding lung disease risk.

A branch tied to a disease burden this large, with comparatively less competition among applicants, has real headroom for demand to grow through 2026 and beyond.

MD Respiratory Medicine Eligibility for NEET PG

Candidates need to meet these conditions to apply for MD Pulmonary Medicine through NEET PG counselling:

1. Hold an MBBS degree from an NMC-recognised medical college.
2. Complete a compulsory one-year rotating internship, due by July 31, 2026, for the NEET PG 2026 cycle.
3. Qualify NEET PG at the required percentile: 50th for General/EWS, 45th for General-PwBD, and 40th for SC/ST/OBC categories.

MCC conducts counselling for 50% of All India Quota seats in government medical colleges plus 100% of seats in deemed universities, central universities, ESIC institutes and AFMS institutions. State authorities separately conduct counselling for the remaining 50% seats as state quota.

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MD Respiratory Medicine NEET PG Cutoff: 2025 Benchmark for 2026

NBEMS conducted NEET PG 2026 on August 30 (with a re-exam for affected Jaipur candidates on September 5), and results are due by September 30, 2026. Branch-wise and college-wise closing cutoffs publish only after MCC releases Round 1 seat allotment, so the numbers below are a 2025 historical benchmark, not a 2026 figure. NEET PG 2025 used an 800-mark scale; NEET PG 2026 moved to 180 questions and a 720-mark scale, so raw 2025 and 2026 scores are not directly comparable. Treat the table below as a trend indicator, not a 2026 prediction.

All India category-wise MD Respiratory Medicine closing score, 2025 Round 1 AIQ

The NEET PG TB Chest cutoff and NEET PG Pulmonary Medicine cutoff track closely across most states because colleges list this specialty under either name. Competition still varies sharply by institute: SDS Tuberculosis Research Centre and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, Bengaluru, closed its MD Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases seat at AIR 10,739 for the General category in 2024. Cutoffs at other government and private colleges swing widely by category, quota and round, so check each college’s individual trend during counselling rather than relying on a single national average.

MD Respiratory Medicine Seats and Colleges in India

1,348 MD Respiratory Medicine seats across 333 colleges and hospitals in India. This is a secondary-source count rather than an officially published NMC/MCC 2026 national seat matrix, so treat it as a planning estimate and verify the final seat matrix once MCC and state authorities publish it for the 2026 cycle. Seat distribution in this dataset skews toward a handful of states:

Candidates comparing state quota options across these states can check our state-wise NEET PG counselling authorities guide for official portals and deadlines.

Colleges that candidates most often selected during NEET PG 2025 AIQ counselling for MD Respiratory Medicine, include Government Medical College Kozhikode, Government Medical College Kottayam, Madurai Government Medical College, Government Medical College Srinagar, Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, TD Government Medical College Alappuzha, SCB Medical College Cuttack, Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Thanjavur Government Medical College, Kilpauk Government Medical College, PGIMER Capital Hospital Khordha, Institute of Medical Sciences BHU Varanasi, MGM Medical College Indore, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute Delhi, and Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences Patna. This list reflects candidate preference during counselling, not an independent academic or NIRF ranking.

MD Respiratory Medicine Fees

Fees for MD Pulmonary Medicine vary widely by quota and college type, and no single official national fee schedule covers every institute. Government medical colleges keep fees low, often a few thousand rupees a year. 

Deemed and private universities charge far more: total course fees near ₹59.5 lakh at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, while other private and deemed colleges range roughly between ₹19 lakh and ₹1.26 crore for the full three-year course. Management and NRI quota seats sit at the higher end of that range. Always confirm the exact fee structure on the individual college’s official website or prospectus before counselling, since figures reported by aggregator sites can go out of date.

Course Structure and Super-Speciality Options

MD Pulmonary Medicine runs for three years and typically combines classroom teaching with hands-on clinical postings in respiratory wards, ICUs, bronchoscopy suites, pulmonary function labs and sleep medicine units, though the exact facilities available depend on the college. Residents rotate through TB and chest OPDs and critical care postings, and submit a thesis before final examinations.

Per NBEMS’s NEET-SS feeder-qualification rules, MD/DNB Respiratory Medicine graduates are eligible to apply for five super-speciality DM/DrNB courses:

• DM Pulmonary Medicine
• DM Infectious Disease
• DM Cardiology
• DM Critical Care Medicine
• DM or DrNB Medical Genetics

These super-speciality routes let pulmonologists move into interventional pulmonology, critical care or sleep medicine, three sub-fields that Indian hospitals are actively building out right now.

MD Respiratory Medicine Career Scope After MBBS

A pulmonologist practices in general hospitals, chest institutes, ICUs, large private hospital chains, research institutions and academic medical colleges. Typical physician roles after MD Pulmonary Medicine include Pulmonologist/Respiratory Medicine Specialist, ICU or Critical Care Physician, Academician or Medical Educator, and Clinical Researcher, alongside opportunities in large multispeciality hospital groups.

Earnings vary considerably by city, hospital, workload and experience. Salary-aggregator platforms give a broad, indicative sense of the range rather than an authoritative national figure:

• Entry level (0–3 years): roughly ₹8–12 lakh a year in private practice, with comparable government associate-level pay once allowances are added.
• Mid-career (4–7 years): roughly ₹15–25 lakh a year in the private sector, and somewhat lower in government institutions depending on grade and location.
• Senior level (8+ years): consultants with procedural and on-call work at corporate hospitals can cross ₹40 lakh a year in some cities, and academic professors add teaching and research income to clinical practice.

Treat these bands as directional rather than fixed, and verify current compensation at specific hospitals or institutions before making career decisions. Private practice adds a further income stream once a pulmonologist builds a regular OPD base, particularly in tier-2 cities where TB and COPD caseloads stay high relative to the number of practising specialists.

How Career Plan B Helps

Choosing between MD Pulmonary Medicine, a competing branch, or a super-speciality path later gets easier with the right guidance. 

Career Plan B offers Personalized Career Counselling to map your NEET PG rank against realistic college options, PsycheIntel and Career Assessment Tests to check whether pulmonology genuinely fits your interests, Admission and Academic Profile Guidance through counselling rounds, and Career Roadmapping toward DM specialisation or private practice.

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FAQs

Q1. What is the MD Respiratory Medicine cutoff 2026 through NEET PG?
NBEMS has not released the 2026 branch-wise cutoff yet. Results are due by September 30, 2026, and branch-wise closing scores follow after Round 1 MCC counselling. Use the 2025 benchmark (615/800 for General category, AIQ) only as a rough trend indicator, since 2026 uses a different 720-mark scale.

Q2. What is the scope of MD Respiratory Medicine after MBBS?
Graduates work as pulmonologists, critical care physicians or academic researchers in hospitals, chest institutes and large hospital chains. Many pursue DM Pulmonary Medicine, DM Critical Care Medicine or another eligible super-speciality for further training.

Q3. What are the MD Respiratory Medicine fees and seats in India?
A 2025 secondary-source dataset lists around 1,348 seats across 333 colleges nationally; verify the confirmed 2026 seat matrix once MCC and state authorities publish it. Government quota fees stay minimal, while private and deemed university fees can run into several lakh a year.

Q4. Which are the top MD Respiratory Medicine colleges in India?
Government Medical College Kozhikode, GMC Kottayam, Madurai Government Medical College, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute Delhi and PGIMER Capital Hospital Khordha were among the most preferred colleges in NEET PG 2025 AIQ counselling data, based on candidate choice rather than an official quality ranking.

Q5. What is the NEET PG TB Chest cutoff?
MD TB and Chest is one of the nomenclatures used for the same broad specialty as MD Respiratory Medicine, so its cutoff tracks closely at most colleges. It closed near 615/800 marks for General category AIQ seats in 2025, with premier institutes closing considerably higher.

Q6. Is MD Pulmonary Medicine the same as MD TB and Chest?
They cover the same specialty. MD Pulmonary Medicine, MD Respiratory Medicine, MD TB and Chest and MD Thoracic Medicine are different names NMC-recognised colleges use for this branch, rather than a single standardised degree title.

Conclusion

MD Pulmonary Medicine offers real demand, comparatively manageable competition, and a clear path to super-speciality practice, set against India’s massive TB and COPD burden. The branch may be less preferred than some traditionally high-demand clinical specialties, which keeps the door open for candidates who study the cutoff trends and plan their NEET PG counselling strategically. Talk to a Career Plan B counsellor today and turn your NEET PG rank into a confirmed seat in MD Pulmonary Medicine.