Not informed about bond conditions during admission! Kasturba Medical College MBBS medicos move HC

Although one-year compulsory rural service was mandatory only for the medicos from government medical colleges, Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates completed Medical Courses Act, 2012 made it applicable to the medical graduates from private medical colleges as well.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year, introducing major changes in compulsory rural service policy in Karnataka, the State Health Department had proposed restricting it only to the students in government medical colleges. The State Health Department proposed this policy change with the aim to lessen the financial burden on the government. It was being estimated that the policy change could lead to Rs 544 crore in annual savings.

Even though rural service was made mandatory for medical graduates from private medical institutes as well, this provision was later revised, removing the private and deemed universities from this arrangement.

Meanwhile, according to EdexLive, now the medicos are being asked to sign an affidavit for undertaking compulsory rural service for a period of one year and also to submit a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by the Union Health Ministry to obtain their permanent registration with the Karnataka Medical Council.

It is being mentioned in the affidavit that the students will serve in a government institute for one year and if they choose not to undergo the mandatory bond service, they would be liable to pay a penalty of Rs 15 to Rs 30 lakh to the government.

The Karnataka Government is implementing these new changes under the draft Karnataka Compulsory Service by Candidates Completed Medical Courses (Counseling, Allotment and Certification) (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

However, the students have alleged that since the draft rules have not been passed yet, the bond service requirement is being implemented 'illegally' on the 2018 batch of students. Therefore, challenging these new amendment rules of the Government, the students have now moved the Karnataka High Court, which is yet to assign a hearing date for the matter.

Also Read: 1 Year Compulsory Rural Service Challenged: Karnataka HC Notice to govt