Is Rheumatologist actually your fit?

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Rheumatologist

Healthcare

Rheumatologists are internists who have completed DM Rheumatology (or equivalent Fellowship) and manage the full spectrum of autoimmune and musculoskeletal disease — rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), vasculitis, psoriatic arthritis, myositis, and crystal arthropathies like gout. The Indian training path is MBBS + MD General Medicine (3 years via NEET-PG) + DM Rheumatology (3 years via NEET-SS) — making it one of the longest specialisation tracks in Indian medicine (11.5 years total). India has roughly 800-1,000 practicing rheumatologists for 1.4 billion people, creating an extreme access gap that translates directly into high clinical demand and significant practice income for trained specialists. Premier training centres are AIIMS Delhi (which opened India's first dedicated DM Rheumatology programme), PGIMER Chandigarh, CMC Vellore, SGPGI Lucknow, IPGMER Kolkata, Amrita Kochi, and KEM Mumbai. Private practice anchors are Apollo, Fortis, Manipal, and Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, where urban rheumatology OPDs run 60-100 patients a day across multiple consultants. The biologics market — anti-TNF agents (adalimumab, etanercept), IL-6 inhibitors (tocilizumab), JAK inhibitors (tofacitinib, baricitinib), anti-CD20 (rituximab), IL-17 inhibitors (secukinumab) — is growing at 15-20% annually in India and has materially increased both the complexity and the income ceiling of modern rheumatology practice.