As the State is facing severe shortage of doctors in rural areas, the Karnataka Government has made rural service compulsory for graduating doctors. According to Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, Minister of State for Medical Education, it was now compulsory for graduating doctors to serve for one-year in rural areas.
He said in Bengaluru on Wednesday that the ‘Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Courses Bill 2012’, passed in the State legislature, had received the President’s assent and it will be compulsory for graduating medicos (both from Government and private colleges) to serve in villages from this year.
He said, ‘’Now the problem of shortage of doctors in villages will be largely addressed. All those who pass MBBS or MS degrees will have to serve in rural areas. Candidates who secure seats in post-graduate courses get the relief, but once they pass the PG degree, they too will have to serve in villages for one year.’’
According to the Minister, earlier the State had made it mandatory for medical graduates to serve in rural areas, or pay a hefty penalty to avoid it. Most of the graduates used to pay the penalty to avoid the rural service making the statute ineffective. But now it is compulsory and the graduating doctors have to serve in the rural areas for one year.
He also announced that the Government had received sanction from the Medical Council of India from this academic year for opening three more Government medical colleges in Gulbarga, Koppal and Gadag .
“We have already spent Rs150 crore on infrastructure and appointing teaching staff in each of these colleges” he added.
The Government is expecting MCI nod to open three more Government colleges next year, in Chamarajanagar, Karwar and Kodagu. ‘’This will be a record of sorts as the Congress Government will be opening six new medical colleges in the State within two years by 2016,’’ he said
With the opening of three new colleges there will be more than 2900 medical graduates passing out every in the State and this will largely meet the shortage in rural health services, he said.
Dr Prakash said his department had given accord to setting up of five super-specialty Government hospitals in different districts in the State and had sought sanction from Finance and Planning Departments.