DG Shipping (DGMA) Approved Doctors for Merchant Navy Medical Exam: Complete List & Standards Explained
If you're preparing for a Merchant Navy career — whether it's Nautical Science, Marine Engineering, or a GP Rating course — there's one hurdle that decides everything before your admission even begins: the pre-sea medical examination. Fail this, and no amount of academic brilliance saves your admission.
A lot of students search for "IMU approved doctors," but that's a slight mix-up worth clearing up first.
Who Actually Approves These Doctors?
IMU CET is just the entrance exam. The medical fitness certificate you need — for admission, and again every time you sign on to a ship — comes from a DGS/DGMA-approved Medical Examiner of Seafarers, empanelled under the Merchant Shipping (Medical Examination) Rules, 2000, and aligned with the STCW Code and the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006. Every seafarer must present before a DGS-approved Medical Examiner before registration and at the time of engagement, and obtain a Medical Certificate of Physical Fitness confirming they meet the Directorate's prescribed standards and aren't suffering from any condition that could be aggravated by sea service.
Only a certificate from one of these approved doctors is valid for admission or sign-on. A certificate from your family physician, however competent, won't be accepted.
How the Official List Works
DGMA maintains and regularly updates the Register of Approved Medical Examiners of Seafarers on its website. The list is genuinely alive — doctors get added, others get suspended, and approvals lapse if a doctor's Medical Council registration isn't renewed. Approval is valid for five years from the date of completing the Familiarisation Course or Refresher Course, or until the examiner turns 65, whichever comes first, and it's deemed expired if their Medical Council registration isn't revalidated.
That's exactly why "IMU approved doctors 2018 list" type PDFs floating around on random websites are dangerous to rely on — a doctor listed a few years ago may not still be practising or approved today, so it's important to always check a recently updated list rather than an old one.
Always cross-check here before booking an appointment:
- Current approved list (as on 11 Sept 2026): dgma.gov.in's Medical Examiner List page
- Suspended doctors list (updated regularly) — also on the same page
A doctor can appear "approved" in an old blog post while actually being on the suspended list today, so this check genuinely matters.
Sample List of Currently Approved Doctors (by City)
Below is a small, verified sample pulled directly from the official DGMA register (current as of September 2026) — enough to show you the format and a few real, currently valid options in major seafarer hubs. This is illustrative, not exhaustive; DGMA's full register runs to roughly 80 pages across every state.
(Approval numbers, exact addresses, and full contact details for these and hundreds more examiners are on the official DGMA list — worth pulling the current PDF directly since numbers and addresses do change.)
A practical tip for readers: rather than reproducing pages and pages of a directory that goes stale within months, it's genuinely more useful to link straight to the live official PDF and teach the reader how to search it (Ctrl+F their city name) than to publish a static list that misleads people in six months.
What the DG Shipping Medical Exam Actually Checks
This is the part most guides gloss over. The exam is far more thorough than a "fitness check" — it's a comprehensive screening designed around one question: can this person work safely in an environment with no hospital, limited backup, and physically demanding duties?
1.General physical examination & anthropometry
Height, weight, BMI, and a full physical exam — your BMI is calculated closely, with an ideal range of 18.5 to 25; a BMI above 30 flags an increased health risk and requires additional cardiac stress tests before clearance. Candidates with knock knee are not eligible under DG Shipping criteria.
Height, weight, BMI, and a full physical exam — your BMI is calculated closely, with an ideal range of 18.5 to 25; a BMI above 30 flags an increased health risk and requires additional cardiac stress tests before clearance. Candidates with knock knee are not eligible under DG Shipping criteria.
2. Eyesight and colour vision
Eyesight standards are set out in Table A-I/9 of the STCW Code for in-service seafarers, with a separate standard specified for the pre-sea examination. Corrected vision is acceptable for most roles, typically 6/6 in the better eye with correction, but colour vision cannot be corrected — if you're colour blind, Deck Officer roles are closed to you. Colour vision is tested using the Ishihara plates.
Eyesight standards are set out in Table A-I/9 of the STCW Code for in-service seafarers, with a separate standard specified for the pre-sea examination. Corrected vision is acceptable for most roles, typically 6/6 in the better eye with correction, but colour vision cannot be corrected — if you're colour blind, Deck Officer roles are closed to you. Colour vision is tested using the Ishihara plates.
3. Hearing
Candidates must be able to hear clearly at a minimum of 40dB across standard frequencies, with each ear tested independently. A hearing aid is only considered acceptable for catering staff, and it must be effective enough to allow normal conversational communication.
Candidates must be able to hear clearly at a minimum of 40dB across standard frequencies, with each ear tested independently. A hearing aid is only considered acceptable for catering staff, and it must be effective enough to allow normal conversational communication.
4. Blood pressure
New entrants must have blood pressure under 150/90 mmHg, while in-service seafarers are allowed up to 160/100 mmHg.
New entrants must have blood pressure under 150/90 mmHg, while in-service seafarers are allowed up to 160/100 mmHg.
5. Blood and lab tests
The panel includes blood sugar, blood urea, BUN, serum creatinine, serum uric acid, SGOT, SGPT, bilirubin, A/G ratio, triglycerides, GGT, HBsAg, HIV, VDRL, ESR, blood group, urine and stool routine, and a chest X-ray. Mandatory infectious disease screening covers HIV 1 & 2, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B (HBsAg), Hepatitis C, and VDRL, alongside an ECG for heart rhythm and spirometry for lung function.
The panel includes blood sugar, blood urea, BUN, serum creatinine, serum uric acid, SGOT, SGPT, bilirubin, A/G ratio, triglycerides, GGT, HBsAg, HIV, VDRL, ESR, blood group, urine and stool routine, and a chest X-ray. Mandatory infectious disease screening covers HIV 1 & 2, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B (HBsAg), Hepatitis C, and VDRL, alongside an ECG for heart rhythm and spirometry for lung function.
6. Drug and alcohol screening
Screening covers morphine, barbiturates, amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine, and alcohol.
Screening covers morphine, barbiturates, amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine, and alcohol.
7. Dental fitness
Dental checks look for active decay, gum disease, and a workable number of functional teeth — clinics typically expect a set number of healthy "dental points" going in.
Dental checks look for active decay, gum disease, and a workable number of functional teeth — clinics typically expect a set number of healthy "dental points" going in.
8. Mental and neurological fitness
Conditions like epilepsy, unpredictable neurological disorders, or severe psychiatric illness are assessed carefully — a life at sea with no immediate medical evacuation makes this non-negotiable.
Conditions like epilepsy, unpredictable neurological disorders, or severe psychiatric illness are assessed carefully — a life at sea with no immediate medical evacuation makes this non-negotiable.
The Standards, at a Glance
A quick practical note for readers: conditions like hernia, kidney stones, or dental caries don't automatically disqualify a candidate if they're surgically corrected or properly treated before the exam, and even a permanent unfitness declaration comes with a structured appeals mechanism through the Directorate — so a single red flag isn't always the end of the road.
How Doctors Themselves Get DG Shipping Approval
Worth including for context, since readers sometimes ask this too: a doctor needs the right infrastructure and qualified staff, and pays ₹25,000 for initial approval or ₹10,000 for renewal, plus roughly ₹6,500 for a mandatory one-day training fee charged by a DGS-approved Maritime Training Institute. They must complete the Familiarization Course for Medical Examiners of Seafarers at an approved institute, after which the institute forwards their documentation to the Directorate for listing.
Tips for Candidates Before Your Medical
- Get your eyes tested independently first, especially if you're set on Nautical Science — color blindness is non-negotiable and best discovered early.
- Avoid alcohol, smoking, and heavy meals for at least 48 hours before the exam, since these can skew blood pressure and lab results.
- Keep hydrated in the days before — dehydration can distort kidney function readings in the blood panel.
- If your BMI is outside the ideal range, start working on it months in advance rather than days before.
- Visit an approved examiner from the current list, not one bookmarked from an old blog post.
