Rural service mandatory for PG medicos in Karnataka

By S.K. Ramoo

BANGALORE, MARCH 3. The Karnataka Government has evolved a scheme for ensuring that the services of doctors and medical specialists are available on a continuous basis to the people residing in rural areas.

Under the scheme, devised by a Cabinet Sub-committee on the Maharashtra model and approved by the Government, the students selected for various post-graduate medical courses in the Government and private medical colleges, will have to compulsorily work in rural areas for a year. Only after this will they be permitted to undertake the academic part of their studies. This is rendered applicable to both the post-graduate degree and diploma courses in various branches of medicine from the academic year 2001-02. There are currently 1,237 post- graduate medical seats in Karnataka.

The selected post-graduate students will be paid Rs. 6000 as emoluments which will be on par with that of doctors appointed on a contract basis. Besides, the doctors posted in rural areas who are not provided with government quarters will be paid an additional sum of Rs 1,000 a month to rent a house at the location of primary health centres. (PHCs)

Another major decision is that medical personnel recruited to man PHCs will not be transferred during the first three years of their service. During the next three years also, if their transfer is considered essential, they will be shifted only within the same district where they are serving and not outside.

It has been decided to evolve a pool of deputation-cum -leave reserve doctors of 100 in each district, who will replace PHC doctors when they go on leave or are deputed for training. Very often it was found that a number of doctors posted to rural regions remain on unauthorised absence. For meeting such contingencies, a pool of relieving doctors will be created for ensuring continuity of medical services in the rural areas. The Cabinet Sub-committee, in its report, observed that the district administrations, including the zilla panchayats, were often guilty of laxity in enforcing discipline among doctors serving in rural areas by ensuring that they stayed in their places of work and not far away in the district headquarters.

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Section  : Southern States
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