The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : On rural service

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 04, 2007
ePaper

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

On rural service

I am writing this after reading the letters that have appeared on the Union Health Ministry’s proposal to introduce one year’s compulsory rural service for students of medicine. The common presumption is that the medical students, who are studying in people’s money, are refusing to serve those who pay for their studies. This, unfortunately, is not only a wrong but also an unhealthy accusation.

It is easy to talk about the virtues of service in the villages, sitting comfortably in a posh city. The service-in-rural-areas is nothing but the latest mantra of politicians. Villages lack not only experts but also basic amenities. Of what good are doctors who can diagnose but cannot save lives for lack of medicines or equipment? Service can never be extracted by force. And it is not exactly doctors who are being asked to serve. It is the students who are being made scapegoats.

D. Gnanaguru,

Madurai

* * *

The move to extend the MBBS course by a year, in my view, is nothing but an effort aimed at obtaining cheap labour for the rural health service. Is it because we have committed ourselves to becoming doctors that we have to bear any injustice bestowed upon us in the name of service without a whimper of resentment? Were we given prior information about the proposal? Is this the way to treat future doctors? How can you expect us to have a social conscience if in the name of service you dump us and our aspirations in a PHC without our consent?

K.K.S.S. Teja,

Hyderabad

* * *

Rural service needs no emphasis. However, the investment in the medical course is huge. Hence ordering the students to render compulsory rural service is unfair. If the government is keen on implementing the scheme, it should pay the students well. A reader has suggested that doctors should not compare their salaries with those of the IT professionals. It is pertinent to note that but for the unique facilities and huge tax sops offered by our government to the IT and ITES companies, their employees’ salaries will certainly be on a par with those of other professionals. If, in the eyes of our government, forex is important, healthcare should be more so.

N.V. Sudarsanan,

Chennai

* * *

The extension of the course by one year will wean away the real aspirants from the noble service. When many of their high school counterparts opting for other professional streams can draw a handsome salary and undergo occupational mobility in the same duration, why would students opt for medicine? A day may come when medicine becomes the choice of those who can afford to sustain the mental and monetary pressure caused by the additional year of study.

B. Surendran,

Chennai

* * *

After decades of neglect of the underprivileged, the government has mooted a proposal that is laudable and is a step in the right direction. In spite of growing wealth, rural India still lacks medical facilities. Many problems remain unattended due to want of doctors. Doctors must understand that they have chosen a profession that is considered noble. Their motive should not be to make money alone but to serve the poor who can ill-afford treatment in private hospitals.

K.R. Srinivasan,

Hyderabad

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News Update

Stories in this Section

Spectacular electoral triumph

Bravo Murali

Embedded reporting: too close to comfort?

Bali and beyond: a new green economics

Is our technological manpower keeping pace?

Corrections and clarifications