The government is considering making rural service mandatory for medical graduates to meet the shortage of health professionals in remote areas of the country.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha on shortage of health professionals in rural areas, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad today said," Yes, government is contemplating to make rural service mandatory for MBBS graduates."
He said the Medical Council of India has granted various concessions to medical graduates in post-graduate courses to help encourage them to work in remote and difficult areas in rural India.
Among these concessions, the Minister said 50 per cent reservation is provided in post-graduate diploma courses for medical officers in government service who have served for at least three years in remote and difficult areas.
Azad said an incentive at the rate of 10 per cent of marks obtained for each year in service in remote or difficult areas upto the maximum of 30 per cent of the marks obtained in the entrance test for admissions in post-graduate medical courses is also given.
In order to meet the shortage of health-paramedical professionals in the country, the central government has also taken a number of other measures that includes relaxation in norms for setting up of medical colleges in terms of requirement of land, beds, particularly in hilly/underserved/ tribal areas.
