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Maharashtra government wants to hike fine for doctors dodging rural posting

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File photo of medicos protesting against the compulsory rural posting, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi ­
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To ensure that government or civic medical college students work for the mandatory one year in rural areas, state health department wants to increase the penalty amount in case they do not comply with the requirement. Having held talks with the concerned authority, health department officials will be sending a proposal to this effect to the medical education department.

While joining medical courses like MBBS, PG or diploma in state- and civic-run medical colleges, students have to sign a bond saying they will serve in a rural area for one year after completing MBBS, or pay Rs10 lakh as fine; for PG/diploma the fine penalty is Rs50 lakh. But it is a known fact that students are loath to commit to rural areas.

A government or civic medical college student pays Rs45,000 per year in fees. The government, on the other hand, spends a whopping Rs6 lakh per student per year.

There are 17 medical colleges across the state where 2,060 students complete courses every year, and in most cases it has been observed that MBBS students prefer to pay the penalty.

"It's the duty of the students who get subsidised education to serve society before taking up private practice. The rural stint will not only improve the quality of health services across the state but will also help doctors prepare for practice. We found that students have preferred paying off the bond that requires them to do the rural placement instead of actually doing it. In the past three years, DMER has collected more than Rs10 crore from students.

Hence, we want to increase the penalty amount," said Deepak Sawant, state health minister.

"We discussed this subject with officials from the medical education department. Experts will decide the amount by which the fine should be increased and any other measures we can take to curb this practice," Sawant said.

The government started the bond system in 1998. For the first batch, which graduated after five years in 2002-03, the bond penalty was Rs1 lakh. Having been steadily raised over the past decade, it now stands at Rs10 lakh.
A senior official from the medical education department said, "Several students say there are no jobs for them in rural areas and avoid the mandatory service."

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