No arrangements for Food, Accommodation for Telangana PG Medicos undergoing District Residency Programme, Govt Intervention sought

Hyderabad: The Postgraduate medical students of Telangana, who are undergoing the mandatory District Residency Programme (DRP), are finding it difficult to get accommodation, food and travel expenses from the State government authorities.

Raising the issue, already the members of Telangana Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) have met the State Health Minister T. Harish Rao on Sunday and submitted a representation in this regard and sought the intervention and support from the State Government to solve the matter.

Now the State Health Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi has assured that the Government will provide accommodation and food facilities to the PG medicos, JUDA president Dr. Kaushik informed Medical Dialogues. He also added that the allocation of the doctors to the district hospitals has been postponed to April 1, 2023.

The apex medical education regulatory body NMC had proposed the District Residency Programme back in 2021 and it was mentioned that all the PG medical students pursuing MD/MS in broad specialities should undergo a compulsory residential rotation of three months in District Hospitals/ District Health System as a part of the course curriculum. Such rotation takes place in the 3rd or 4th or 5th semester.

Also Read: Got Doubts regarding District Residency Programme? Check out the clarification issued by NMC

Making the District Residency Programme mandatory for all the Postgraduate broad speciality students admitted in 2021 batch onwards, NMC recently also wrote to the Principal Secretary/ Secretary of Medical Education of all the States/UTs, the Directors of all the State/UT DMEs, and the Heads of all the medical institutes to clarify the doubts regarding the implementation of DRP.

Addressing the issue of accommodation of the District Residents, NMC had mentioned, "The State Government shall provide appropriate amenities to the District Residents, including, amongst others, suitable accommodation, transportation to workplace (if living quarters are faraway), security, especially for lady residents. Accommodation could be by means of government premises or that rented by concerned State Govt. and should conform to prescribe norms."

Therefore, the norms clearly specify that the respective State government is responsible for the food, accommodation and travel expenses of the District Residents. 

Recently, the Director of Medical Education in Telangana released an allotment letter on March 10 and mentioned about the list of both government and private medical colleges and also mentioned the hospitals where the students have been allocated for the DRP.

However, when the students contacted their respective colleges, the principals informed them that the accommodation, food and travel allowance will not be provided to them. Following this, the students reached DME Dr. Ramesh Reddy. However, the authorities informed them that the government cannot arrange for such facilities for food and accommodation.

While commenting on the matter, Dr. Kaushik Kumar, the president of JUDA, told Medical Dialogues, "First of all, we were allotted very far off districts- around 100-150 kms away from our hometown. Then when we called the Superintendent of the Hospitals, they denied providing the accommodation, food and travel expenses. NMC guidelines clearly specify that the respective State government shall take care of these expenses."

"When we went to DME sir and explained to him about these problems. We asked for the hometown option so that we can go up and down daily for 30 to 40 kms. Hometown option is being provided in States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They said that we can't do it since they have already mapped the allotment and it is not possible for the Government to provide accommodation for everyone in such a short span of time," he added.

"After this, we approached the Health Minister and informed him about the issue. Explaining the problems on the part of the government to provide accommodations in hostels, the Health Minister sir asked us to come up with our own solution. We suggested for hometown option or asked for the option of accommodation at least near the college where we have been posted. We also suggested that if any of these two options are not available, the Government could provide us with some allowance so that we can arrange for our accommodation and food," added Dr. Kaushik.

"When we submitted these suggestions to the Health Secretary, he explained that the option of hometown cannot be given since it will not be practical. We also asked for some time so that we can arrange for our own accommodation. So, he talked to the DME and the allocation has been postponed till April 1st. The Health Secretary has also assured us that the Government will provide us with accommodation and food facilities," he added.

Also Read: Mumbai MD, MS doctors soon to get postings for mandatory District Residency Programme