Maharashtra abolishes mandatory 1 year MBBS bond service

Mumbai: With the number of MBBS graduates rising sharply over the years and government bond postings failing to keep pace, the Maharashtra Medical Education and Drugs Department has abolished the mandatory one-year bond service required after completion of the MBBS course.

Under the new rules, no new MBBS bond postings will be allotted. Candidates who were eligible for bond service but had not yet been allotted a posting, or could not complete the service for any reason, will no longer be required to undertake the service afresh or complete the remaining period.

However, candidates whose bond service is already in progress must complete the remaining period. Similarly, those who had been allotted a posting through the online portal and had already joined before the government's decision came into force will also have to complete their service.

On the other hand, candidates who had been allotted a posting but had not yet joined their assigned place of service will not be required to complete the bond service.

Issuing a Government Resolution (GR) to this effect on July 23, 2026, the government said the bond service was introduced to ensure that MBBS students studying in government-aided and private unaided medical colleges under various government scholarship and fee reimbursement schemes also receive significant financial support from the Government.

As medical education is heavily funded by public money, MBBS graduates were required to sign a bond and complete one year of service in government hospitals, local self-government institutions or the defence services after graduation.

However, the government said that with the rapid increase in the number of medical colleges in the State and the corresponding rise in the number of MBBS graduates each year, the government has been unable to provide Social Responsibility Service postings to all eligible candidates within the prescribed time because of the limited number of available posts across various departments.

As a result, many eligible candidates have been unable to complete the mandatory service, creating difficulties in fulfilling the eligibility criteria required for admission to postgraduate medical courses.

The government also noted that many MBBS graduates were completing the one-year bond service mainly to become eligible for postgraduate medical admissions rather than to provide long-term medical care. As a result, they were not fully committed to their assigned duties. It further observed that since these doctors had only recently completed their MBBS course, many were not yet experienced enough to independently handle emergency medical services.

Following discussions held in the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Hon'ble Chief Minister on 9 July 2025 at Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai, the Public Health Department, with its concurrence, submitted a proposal to the Medical Education and Drugs Department to review and abolish the policy of compulsory one-year bond service after MBBS.

After reviewing the existing policy, the Government decided to abolish the mandatory one-year bond service requirement for MBBS graduates from Government, Municipal, Government-aided, and Private Unaided Medical Colleges in Maharashtra.

"The Government hereby abolishes the requirement of one year of Social Responsibility Service after completion of the MBBS course in Government, Municipal, Government-aided and Private Unaided Medical Colleges in Maharashtra. Accordingly, the provisions contained in the Government Resolutions referred to above relating to Social Responsibility Service shall stand superseded or cancelled, subject to the following conditions:" mentioned the GR. 

The following conditions include:

i. Candidates not yet allotted service

Candidates who were eligible for Social Responsibility Service but have not yet been allotted a posting, or could not complete the service for any reason, shall not be required to undertake the service afresh or complete the remaining period.

ii. Candidates already serving

Candidates whose Social Responsibility Service is currently in progress shall be required to complete the remaining prescribed period of service.

iii. Candidates allotted service through the online portal

Candidates who, before the issuance of this Government Resolution had registered through the online portal, were allotted Social Responsibility Service, and had already joined their place of posting, shall be required to complete the service.

However, candidates who had been allotted a posting but had not yet joined their assigned place of service shall not be required to complete the Social Responsibility Service.

iv. No further allotments

From the date of issuance of this Government Resolution:

♦ No further Social Responsibility Service postings shall be allotted to any candidate;

♦ The online portal created by the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) for allotment of Social Responsibility Service after MBBS shall be closed immediately.

v. No refund of penalty paid

Candidates who had earlier paid the prescribed penalty under previous Government Resolutions in order to obtain exemption from Social Responsibility Service shall not be entitled to any refund of the penalty amount.

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