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No need for medicos to get agitated: panel chief

Photo: T. Singaravelou

APPREHENSION: A student of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research making a point at a meeting with the Central government-constituted committee in Puducherry on Friday. —

PUDUCHERRY: Dr. R. Sambasiva Rao, who heads the committee constituted by the Centre to go into the move to introduce one-year compulsory rural posting to medicos, said on Friday that there was no need for the students “to get agitated as the proposal was not compulsory but only prospective.”

The purpose of the committee was to elicit the views of the students, parents, faculty and other stakeholders in the medical profession about the proposed decision to extend the duration of the MBBS course by one year, he said during an interaction with the medicos of four colleges at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER).

The committee would conclude its hearing the next week after visiting Andhra Pradesh and submit its report along with recommendations by the end of December, he said.

Several students and parents expressed apprehensions about the Central government’s proposal. They also pointed out that Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss had reportedly stated that the proposal would be implemented irrespective of the outcome of the committee’s report.

However, Dr. Rao said that the committee was yet to submit its report.

Stating that the medicos were not against the government’s effort to give better healthcare facility in rural areas, the student leaders who were present at the meeting, said that they only opposed the extension of the duration of the course. “This will result in students losing their time and expose them to financial insecurity as most of them belong to middle class families,” they said.

In the present situation, a majority of the students opted for postgraduate courses and the extension of the duration of the degree course would make them settle in life only after 10 years, they said.

“With just bookish knowledge about the profession how can we give best care to the patients? Does the government want the rural people to be scapegoats?” they asked.

The students were of the view that the monthly incentive of Rs. 8,000 offered for rural posting was inadequate. The Task Force on Medical Education set up by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had recommended minimum of Rs. 18,000, they said.

Some faculty members also voiced their concerns about the proposal during the interaction.

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