Rural service mandatory for private medical graduates

Mumbai: Medical graduates from private colleges will now have to serve in rural areas for a year, medical education minister Girish Mahajan has said. The state is also setting up a portal to ensure medical and dental graduates serve in rural areas

Earlier, only medical and dental graduates, post-graduates and super specialty students from civic and government-run medical colleges were required to spend a year at state-run rural health care centres after completing their final exams.

There are 23 private medical colleges in the state, including dental ones and they have 3,970 seats. The rules state that students who don’t do serve in rural areas must pay a fine of Rs 15 lakh, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2.5 crore. But many students end up never stepping into a rural health care centres, or paying the fine, said officials, adding that this move will help change that.

Talking to The Asian Age, Mr Mahajan said, “This is a compulsion for government and civic–run colleges, so why not private colleges? I am going to make rural service compulsory for the state’s private colleges. This will help satisfy the need of doctors in rural areas, and medicos will gain experience from this as well.”

“There is also a portal to keep all the details regarding the bond service so that no one misses it,” he added.

Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL), a public limited company, is developing the portal.

The portal will have details of vacant positions in rural healthcare facilities. Graduates will have to apply online for the bond service, after which vacant positions will be allotted to students.

Around 2,800 students graduate from government-run medical colleges a year, but not more than 500 doctors join rural services. No one has any idea as to where these doctors go, but a few of them escape by paying.