Three Month Rural Service Mandatory for PG Medical Students

The Board of Governors (BoG) of the Medical Council of India (MCI) decided on Friday, 11th October that the Post Graduate Medical students will have to serve in a district hospital for a minimum of 3 months to get their degrees. The decision is backed by the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) which is the apex advisory body with representation from the legislature, state governments, NITI Ayog, health ministry etc.

In the resolution of the meeting which was done to discuss on this matter on Friday, said that the CCHFW took this decision to increase the availability of doctors in the country’s government subsidised quality and affordable health care institutions. It said that it also considered the importance of medical education before coming into the decision. The further implementation and adaption of district residency medical education will be done with the guidance and plans of MCI.

An official who was present in the meeting confirmed that the MCI has decided not to award Postgraduate medical degree to students after completion of their 3 years courses until they serve for 3 months in a district hospital of a rural area. The CCHFW endorsed the decision and MCI is hopeful that the same will be implemented from next year with the admission of the PG Medical batch of 2020. Not only degree, but the official registration of practising medicine will also not be given to those students if they do not go through the process.

The experts think that the students are likely o oppose the decision. Because unlike the UG students who see patients at the end of their academic programme, the PG students do it throughout the course as the PG Medical course is more career-oriented. If the decision is implemented, all the private and government medical students will have to work together in district hospitals which may raise ego-clashes among them which will be an unlikely situation. Colleges and Hospitals may also resist the decision.

The Union Health Ministry officials say that even if the formal proposal is yet to come, the committees are mostly in favour of the decision. The official said that most of the ministers present in the meeting agreed with that. The BoG has not yet decided on which portion of the academics this will be implemented which is subject to further discussions and policymaking. The official informed that this will be chalked out with the association of each state separately.

The association of states is important in this policy implementation as the healthcare and medical education falls under the state’s concerns. The MCI may take the decision but the implementation will have to be done finally by the states.

Also Read:Millions of Jobs will be created by the Indian Healthcare Sector by 2020

The rural stint for a medical issue is not something unique or unheard of. Many successive governments in the state or central have tried to implement it but have faced discontent by the medical students.

Previously, Maharashtra and Gujarat made the rural service for UG medical students mandatory which was challenged in court. However, MH still reserves UG and PG Medical seats for students willing to serve in rural areas.

On the other hand, UP made the mandate of serving in rural areas for both UG and PG Medical students. The same step got stuck in red-tapes for Telangana government as they were asked to bring a legislature for the decision.

Also Read: UP makes working in Rural Areas for Medical Students Mandatory

The Medical Council will expectedly face a lot of roadblocks in the implementation of the decision. Convincing students and healthcare institutes will come up as a big challenge.