The NMC curriculum list, reproduced exactly, plus the editions residents actually read in 2026 — with journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you will need for your thesis and exit practical.
These 20 titles are reproduced as they appear in the National Medical Commission curriculum document for Paediatric Surgery — spelling and abbreviations included. Treat it as the scope anchor, not as a shopping list.
Source: National Medical Commission curriculum document for Paediatric Surgery
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read through, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
Journal club and the recent-advances parts of the theory paper come from here. You do not need all of them — follow one Indian and two international titles properly.
Three years of superspecialty training goes faster than it sounds, and most of it is spent on the floor. The order below is what works for most MCh Paediatric Surgery residents.
Ashcraft cover to cover with Gray and Skandalakis for embryology; Cloherty and Stark and Nelson for neonatal and paediatric medicine; Caffey for imaging; register the thesis protocol and start the logbook rigorously.
Coran and Puri's Newborn Surgery by system; Davenport/Spitz Operative Pediatric Surgery matched to every case assisted; Kelalis-King-Belman during the urology block; complete thesis data collection.
Second pass of Ashcraft plus Holschneider on anorectal malformations and Hadidi on hypospadias; Pizzo for paediatric oncology; journal review of JIAPS and JPS; intensive mock cases, radiology and pathology spot practice.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Cases, spotters and stations that come up again and again in the exit exam.
The NMC guideline prescribes four theory papers: Paper I basic sciences, trauma and transplantation; Paper II regional surgery of head and neck and thorax plus onco-surgery; Paper III regional surgery of abdomen and genitourinary system; Paper IV recent advances. The practical examination is conducted over two days and comprises four case presentations with history, examination and differential diagnosis, ward rounds, and viva-voce on instruments, procedures, radiology, pathology, thesis and logbook.
The National Medical Commission curriculum for Paediatric Surgery lists 20 titles, beginning with Coran AG, et al. Pediatric Surgery, 7Ed: Elsevier - Health Sciences Division; 2012.. The full list is reproduced on this page exactly as it is published.
Holcomb and Ashcraft's Pediatric Surgery by George W. Holcomb III, J. Patrick Murphy, Shawn D. St. Peter is the usual anchor. The most-used single-volume paediatric surgery text in Indian MCh programmes.
MCh Paediatric Surgery is a superspecialty course taken after a broad-specialty MD, MS or DNB, so the reading is narrower and deeper. The broad-specialty texts are assumed knowledge by the time you start.
No. Most residents own two or three and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.
Black and white is 50 paise a page, colour is Rs 1 a page, and binding is Rs 40 per bound volume. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.
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