Hello ,

Firstly you have to be sure that this is what you want. A career in Army as a doctor . Once you are in Army, you have double role i.e. one of a soldier and another of a doctor. Handling both the roles in balance is the challenge you will face. Unlike in Civil practice , as a doctor in indian army you will have to pursue the administrative duties as equal to (sometimes even more) your clinical duties.

Now coming to  your question - No, AFMC is not the only way to become a doctor in defence services of India.

There are two ways -

• Join AFMC after your 12th through NEET  and complete your training successfully. After 5 years of UG you will have 3 options, Join the forces (ARMY /AF/NAVY) as a permanent commissioned officer or Join forces as a short service commissioned medical officer or  pay out the bond and find your future in civil.

If you join as PC Officer you will have to serve for min 20 years but as SSC Officer you can serve upto 14 years max only (without pension )

• The next option is to complete your graduation from any  medical college and join directly through an interview conducted by a board of officers. This is called for by Ministry of Defense on requirement. You will get only SSC through this interview .

Click at this link to know more about AFMC - https://medicine.careers360.com/articles/afmc-mbbs/amp

Hope this was helpful.