Serve rural India to get MBBS degree
The government’s intention to increase the duration of the MBBS course from the existing 5.5 years to 6.5 years made news recently. As per the new proposal, eligibility to secure an MBBS degree entailed completion of 5.5 years of regular MBBS course in addition to one year of rural posting to be linked to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The Medical Council of India (MCI) was working on the proposal. Read more
The latest as per a TOI news report is that the duration of the proposed rural posting is likely to be made mandatory for a period of six months, while students may intern for the rest of the six months at an urban location, with the Medical Council of India (MCI) recently presenting the proposal to the health ministry.
So far, an MBBS course of 5.5 years includes one year of internship. But hardly anyone thinks of taking up an internship in rural parts of the country.
With the implementation of MCI suggestions, undergraduate medical students will have to serve rural population in a primary or a community health centre for half (six months) of their one-year internship as part of the MBBS curriculum.
MCI is presently fine tuning the proposal in terms of necessary regulatory changes, which will ultimately be notified by the health ministry. An official told TOI that the health ministry and the MCI were close to reaching a consensus on the issue of rural posting. Read more
A six-month compulsory rural posting for all MBBS students is expected to give them the confidence and exposure to deal with rare and difficult diseases.
India's rural health services are in very poor shape showing a 76% shortage of doctors in rural India, while nurses are in short supply by 53%. The critical healthcare needs remain unaddressed by a huge margin, where only 12% specialist doctors, 15% radiographers and 20% laboratory technicians are available in rural India. It’s highly unfortunate that a majority of doctors enrolled for rural posting remain absent from duty.
This is the plight of the country that produces over 45,000 medical graduates each year. While doctors are reluctant to take a rural posting as they rather prefer to make money and live in urban centres, the government is looking to meet the mounting challenge of manpower shortage in rural health infrastructure.
