Evaluating Disparities in Surgical Training across India and Opportunities for Global Collaboration

Author(s): Maryam Borumand, Aanchal Madhok

Background: India’s surgical training landscape faces significant disparities in quality, infrastructure, and access, particularly between metropolitan and rural settings. This cross-sectional study evaluated the perspectives of 29 surgical trainees across India to assess key challenges and opportunities within current training systems, with a focus on operative exposure, simulation access, research engagement, and interest in global collaboration. Methods: Participants included residents, super-specialty trainees and consultants, representing diverse geographical backgrounds. Findings revealed substantial inconsistencies in operative teaching and resource availability. Only 4 respondents felt their current hospital provided better training than previous placements, and simulation exposure was limited to basic models, with few having access to advanced tools. Research participation was skewed towards urban centres, with over a fifth of respondents unaware of academic surgical programmes.
Results: Thematic analysis identified five priority areas for international engagement: short-term fellowships, structured simulation training, workshops with visiting faculty, collaborative research, and systemlevel strengthening. Respondents strongly supported expanding day-case surgery under local anaesthesia and decentralising surgical services to improve rural access.
Conclusion: This study highlights an urgent need for equitable training reform, with actionable recommendations grounded in real-time trainee feedback. Integrating mentorship, simulation, and early academic exposure into surgical curricula especially in underserved areas could help bridge intra-national disparities. There has been interest in international collaboration, which offers a unique opportunity to match worldwide best practices with Indian surgical education while maintaining context-specific flexibility. These results offer national and international stakeholders a useful road map for improving surgical training and workforce resilience in India.