As Covid-19 takes rural areas in its grip, the Centre is mulling to make it mandatory for all PG medical students of 2018-19 batch to have one-year compulsory rural services in its medical colleges in the country.
Sources in the Union Health Ministry said the Medical Council of India is considering a proposal in this regard and will soon take a decision on it.
States like Telangana, which admitted of community transmission in the State, have already taken such an initiative and made it compulsory for all Post Graduate (PG) medical students of 2018-19 batch to have one-year services in Government medical colleges in the State.
The aim is to have trained healthcare workers in view of the Covid-19 pandemic in the rural areas where the healthcare system is almost on the brink.
Sources in the Union Health Ministry said the Covid-19 infections have started to increase in towns and districts in various States which is quite worrisome. More so when the health infrastructure in many areas is dismal with not many doctors posted at the PHCs even for the basic services.
“Making the PG Students mandatorily work at the rural services aims to meet the demand supply gap at this time when Covid-19 has taken toll on over 32,000 lives and infected over 13 lakh people,” the sources said.
The Ministry said doctors are needed for timely detection and transfer of patients. As of May 2020, there are 542 medical colleges and 64 stand alone PG Institutes in India whose qualifications are recognised by the Medical Council of India.