Haryana MBBS Students Urge Government to publish amended bond service rules

Rohtak: Continuing their protest against the mandatory bond service policy introduced by Haryana Government, the MBBS students belonging to Government medical colleges in the State have urged the authorities to publish the amended bond service regulations at the earliest.

Writing to the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in this regard, the students have referred to the amendments promised by the Chief Minister and mentioned, "We are thankful to the Hon'ble Chief Minister for the aforementioned progressive amendments but no notification has been released to this effect till now whereas it was mentioned in the meeting held on 30.11.2022 that the notification with these amendments shall be released in a span of maximum 24-48 hrs."

"...we therefore request that the gazette notification incorporating all the amendments announced by Worthy CM with clarifications sought above should be released immediately without any further delay and a meeting of representatives of MBBS students may please be arranged with the Hon'ble Chief Minister for expediting resolution of the matter," the letter further added.

When asked if the students will accept the amended rules, an MBBS student from PGIMS Rohtak, Priya Kaushik told Medical Dialogues, "We can only decide about about future step after the notification is published."

Meanwhile, after completion of their 50 days of protest, the MBBS students of Haryana have organized a public meeting today to commemorate the 51 days of "Struggle, Strength, Solidarity."

Several other organisations including the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Resident Welfare Association, Nagrik Manch, and District Bar association have participated in the event, Kaushik informed Medical Dialogues.

"This is to convey a message to the Government that all of these organisations are still in our support. Government should take note of the fact that they cannot wrong people by issuing any random notification," she added.

Also Read: Haryana Govt Modifies Bond policy to 5 years Service, 30 lakh penalty, Medicos continue strike

When asked about the decision of the MBBS students to boycott their examinations, Priya Kaushik informed that while the second year students had their exams due from December 26, they could not attend classes for the last 50 days. "As per the NMC guidelines, a minimum number of study hours needs to be completed for appearing in the examination. These students have been protesting against the bond policy for the last 50 days. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that these students have completed their study hours."

In the recent letter directed to the State's Chief Minister, the students had also referred to this issue about exams and mentioned, "The students have not attended their classes and clinical postings for more than the last one and half months and are hopeful of a positive resolution of the matter from the government's side. The students of 2020 batch have already expressed their inability to appear in their University examination scheduled w.e.f. 26/12/2022 and can face serious academic loss in future if notification is delayed further."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the MBBS students in Haryana had been protesting against the State Government's new 7-year long bond service policy for more than one month. As per the notification published in the State Government Gazette dated November 07, 2022, "All candidates completing their MBBS Course from Government Medical Colleges in the State of Haryana, shall have to execute a tripartite bond at the time of admission amounting to Rs 36,40,636/- in Government Medical Colleges and Rs 32,80,000/- in Government Aided Medical College i.e MAMC, Agroha which will be signed at the time of admission between the candidate, bank and Government (through the Institution concerned in which the candidate gets admission)."

Clearly, the medicos were upset with the bond-cum-loan agreement worth almost Rs 40 lakh. There was also confusion about those students who would pursue Postgraduation. The Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) of Haryana Government medical colleges had earlier come in support of the MBBS students and they were demanding the revision of bond service period from 7 years to 1 year and changing the penalty amount to Rs 5 lakh.

Previously, the Haryana medicos belonging to government institutes had decided to shut down OPD, ward and elective services. Several associations of doctors including the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), IMA Junior Doctors' Network (JDN) and Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) had come in support of the Haryana medicos.

Finally, after a month-long protest, the medicos had a meeting with the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who announced recently that the bond policy would be modified. The Chief Minister announced the decision of reducing the bond service period from 7 years to 5 years and bond anount from 40 lakhs to 30 lakhs.

The CM had also assured that "Not everyone has to pay this (bond) amount. Only those who'll complete MBBS in next 5 years & will earn more than govt salary will pay this amount. We've also given job guarantee. Those who will not get any Pvt or govt job will be given contractual employment for 1 yr."

While the students are still waiting for the official notification regarding the amendments promised by the Chief Minister, a senior state government officer, who is in charge of supervising the issue, told Indian Express, "The concerns of the students have duly been addressed in the final draft of the notification."

"The idea of the government is simple: MBBS doctors, after completing their five-year course from government institutes, work at government hospitals for five years. There is an expenditure of Rs 1.25 crore on the MBBS course of each student, which is taken care of by the government. That is why the government has imposed a condition for five-year mandatory service in government hospitals. In no part of the world is there free medical education," the officer further added.

Also Read: MBBS Bond Policy Row: IMA plans to move to Punjab and Haryana HC seeking relief