Doctors' Association for Social Equality

Union Health Minister Plans 12-Month-Long Mandatory Rural Posting For Graduates

Prafulla Marpakwar I TNN

Mumbai: Medical teachers and students in the state have strongly opposed a move by Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss to extend the five-and-a-half-year MBBS course by a year, with the last year as mandatory rural posting. They have said that the move will be counter-productive since fresh medical graduates will not be able to deliver the desired results.
"A fresh MBBS graduate is too inexperienced to handle crisis situations in a rural set-up, which will be unfair to the rural population,'' a senior professor said.
Ramadoss is considering extending the course following recommendations by the National Rural Health Mission. A month ago, he had set up a high-level committee headed by additional director general of health services R Samba Siva Rao to ascertain the views of under-graduate and post-graduate teachers, medical teachers, parents and associated groups before implementation of the rural posting for medical graduates.
Accordingly Rao, on Wednesday, held a marathon meeting with medical teachers and students from 42 medical colleges across the state, senior officials of the medical education department and the directorate of medical education and research at JJ Hospital. Rao explained the proposal and said, "Our rural health care system is weak and we want it to strengthen in a time-bound period. Hence Ramadoss, on the recommendation of the ru ral health mission, has mooted the new concept.''
However, medical teachers opposed the move and also raised the following objections.
Students who want to continue post-graduate studies will be affected as a gap of one year in a non-academic environment will have an adverse effect on their studies.
The course is already long and adding a year is unfair. Making it compulsory with a meagre pay or stipend amounts to exploitation.
It is likely that if this scheme is implemented, the number of posts in rural areas may be insufficient to accommodate all the graduates.
In its report, NHRM has said that public health centres across India are poorly managed owing to acute shortage of manpower. In Maharashtra, out of the 6,000 public health centres, there are no doctors at at least 1,600 centres, while at 2,000 centres, the medical officers are appointed on adhoc basis for 11 months. As a result, rural healthcare in the state is almost absent.
MBBS students currently have to undergo three months rural posting. A former dean said India is facing an acute shortage of doctors, owing to wrong policies and a casual approach. "Medical colleges increased from 80 in 1970, with 10,000 seats, to 240 in 2007, with 30,000 seats. Despite this we have been unable to provide adequate human resources.''
After ascertaining the views from all the states, Rao will submit his report to Ramadoss by December 2007.

DOCTOR THREATENS HUNGER STRIKE

In a fitting description of the falling state of medical education in the state, a surgeon who has served the government for over two decades, has threatened to go on a hunger strike from Thursday noon. An associate professor with the surgery department of state-run JJ Hospital, Dr S S Rajput says the government not only withheld his promotion and arrears for years, but is also refusing to grant him his VRS. A super-specialist in cardio-vascular thoracic surgery, he says his promotion to the post of professor has been denied and increments withheld since 1993. "To suffer injustice is as good as being unjust. So I've decided to take this extreme step,'' Dr Rajput told TOI. He has given a copy of his letter to JJ Hospital dean Pravin Shingare, police and Mantralaya officials. "We have forwarded the letter to the government and will look into the matter,'' said Dr Shingare. TNN

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