The State Cabinet on Thursday decided to promulgate an Ordinance to scrap the mandatory one-year service in rural areas for students graduating from medical colleges in Karnataka.
A Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decided to amend the Karnataka Compulsory Service by Candidates Completed Medical Courses Act, 2012, under which so far all MBBS, postgraduate, and super-speciality graduates were to serve one year compulsorily in government healthcare institutions in rural areas as junior residents.
Briefing the Cabinet decisions, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said the Ordinance would be promulgated and later a Bill would be tabled in the winter session of the legislature to replace it.
‘Waste of human resources’
Mr. Patil said rural service would no longer be mandatory for both UG and PG medical students as the number of applicants for rural service far exceeded the vacancies in government hospitals. He termed as a “waste of human resources” posting outgoing MBBS and postgraduate medical students for one-year rural service. It was also a burden on the government, he said.
However, under the amended law, the government would restrict the rural service to the existing vacancies. The Minister said the government would appoint candidates to rural hospitals based on merit.
The proposed amendments would also tweak the clause that imposes a penalty of ₹15 lakh to ₹30 lakh on medical graduates who refuse to work in rural areas. A couple of months ago, Mr. Siddaramaiah had chaired a meeting with Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and senior officials and discussed the issue.
Vacancies and posts
According to government data, in 2023-24, as many as 3,251 MBBS students have registered for rural service, whereas only 1,897 posts are vacant.
“If the government were to create an additional 1,354 posts, it would impose a financial burden of ₹101.82 crore,” according to an internal note from the Health and Family Welfare Department.
In addition, in the 2023-24 academic year, 3,515 PG students have registered as against vacancies of 1,270 posts. Creating an additional 2,245 posts would impose a burden of ₹188.58 crore, the note said. The government pays a monthly salary of about ₹62,000 per doctor.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, had advised the Health Department to amend the law to ensure that the government reserves the right to deploy doctors depending upon vacancies. The government also plans to fill all the vacancies in government hospitals over the next two months, Mr. Patil said.
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