No Solution from Govt: Pan-Haryana strike in Private Hospitals, students to meet CM tomorrow

Rohtak: While the protesting medical students in Haryana proposed for one year mandatory bond service in Government hospitals and Rs 10 lakh bond penalty, the Government has rejected the same.

However, the MBBS students are going to meet the Chief Minister tomorrow i.e. November 30 to discuss their problems regarding the new bond policy.

Issuing a circular in this regard, the Director of Pt. B.D.Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak mentioned, "As per the message received from DMER, Haryana, Panchkula, a meeting has been arranged with Hon'ble Chief Minister, Haryana with MBBS students regarding new bond policy. A delegation of 10 MBBS students and 4 RDA representative can meet Hon'ble Chief Minister on 30.11.2022 at 2:00 PM in Chandigarh. A suitable vehicle will be provided or the students for this meeting."

Meanwhile, the students are continuing their strike and OPD and elective services are suspended. Supporting the students, the Indian Medical Students (IMA) Haryana organized a protest march. Besides, the private hospital services all across Haryana were completely suspended on Monday in support of the MBBS students.

Also Read: Despite Warning, Haryana medicos continue strike, delegations to meet CM today

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the MBBS students in Haryana were protesting against the Rs 10 lakh annual bond policy imposed on the students. While recently CM Manohar Lal Khattar announced the Government's decision of junking the Rs 10 lakh annual fee, the bond money got changed into Bond papers. Therefore, now students will have to enter into a bond-cum-loan agreement of the amount with the college and the concerned bank. The state government will finance the bond amount if MBBS and MD pass-out students wish to join government service as a doctor and serve for a specified period of seven years. But candidates who do not want to join government services in Haryana will have to pay the amount themselves.

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 doctors were upset with the bond service terms for seven years and it was also unclear what would happen if the medicos wished to pursue post-graduation or higher education degrees. So, the upset medicos had organized a peaceful protest against the new bond rules in Haryana. They are demanding the revision of bond service period from 7 years to 1 year and changing the penalty amount to Rs 5 lakh.

Despite several rounds of meeting with the Principal Secretary of the Chief Minister and other government authorities, no solution could be found regarding the ongoing crisis in Haryana medical colleges.

Recently, the students wrote to the Department of Medical Education & Research and submitted their modified proposal regarding the implementation of bond policy. The students proposed compulsory posting service for all MBBS students for one year and Rs 10 lakh bond penalty for those who will not serve the Government.

"As apprised to as by the representatives of the govt., the vision of the State Govt. is to expand the public health infrastructure. To meet the anticipated shortage of doctors in public health services in the coming years, is complete agreement with the vision of the government, we propose a definite mechanism to recruit doctors after completion of their degree from Govt. medical colleges. This must be in the form of a compulsory posting service for all MBBS graduates passing out from Govt. Medical Colleges with the provision that salary, allowances and other benefits must be at par with that of a Medical officer (Group-A) under State Govt. This recruitment must be done within 2 months of completion of internship," the students mentioned in the letter directed to the DMER.

"The compulsory service period should be a maximum of 1 year. This shall ensure a smooth and continuous flow of healthcare professionals into the system," the letter added.

"The bond breach amount should be a maximum of 10 lakh rupees. In case these figures challenge the rationale of the government, we are ready for negotiating via direct communication, till reasonable limits, provided a better justification is produced to the students," further mentioned the students.

However the Government has rejected this modified bond service policy proposed by the students. Speaking about this, Pankaj Bitthu, an MBBS student from PGIMS Rohtak told Medical Dialogues, "Sunday during the second round of meeting we submitted a proposal regarding a compulsory service in Haryana. We said we are ready to serve to deal with the shortage of doctors. But we suggested compulsory deployment of MBBS graduates for one year and Rs 10 lakh bond penalty. However, the Government has refused the same."

"Tomorrow, we are meeting the Chief Minister and hopefully something positive will come up after that," he added.

When asked about the ongoing strike, he further mentioned, "Emergency services are closed. IMA Haryana also has extended its support and organized pan-Haryana shut down in the private hospitals."

Also Read: IMA calls Haryana Bond Policy