The District Residency programme (DRP), a requirement put in place by the National Medical Commission making it mandatory for all medical students pursuing MS/MD postgraduation (PG) in public and private medical colleges to undergo posting at a district/taluk-level hospital for a period of three months, was kicked off in Kerala on Wednesday.
Accordingly, 1,382 PG medicos, including 854 students from the nine government medical colleges and the RCC, 430 from the 19 private medical colleges, and 98 from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, will serve in 78 government hospitals from taluk hospital upwards, which have 100 beds or more.
For three months
Each PG resident will serve for a period of three months in a taluk/district hospital.
Inaugurating the DRP at the General Hospital here on Wednesday, Health Minister Veena George said that with the PG doctors providing care in medical specialties, the referral of patients from periphery hospitals to tertiary-care institutions should come down.
She said that while the government hospitals would benefit, the PG medicos would also get to familiarise themselves with the public health system.
Director of Medical Education Thomas Mathew presided.
Director of Health Services K.J. Reena; Special Officer, Abdul Rasheed; Principal, Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Kala Keshavan, among others, were present.
