PG Medical Admissions at stake: Chhattisgarh Doctors Face problems arranging Rs 25 lakh discontinuation bond amount

New Delhi: The Postgraduate medical aspirants in Chhattisgarh are in trouble as they face difficulties to arrange Rs 25 lakh bond amount for obtaining the No-objection-certificate (NOC) from the Directorate of Health Services (DHS).

Despite clearing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Examination 2022, the MBBS graduates in the State find it difficult to arrange the bond amount which they need to pay because of the partial completion of the mandatory bond service conditions.

Although the State Health Minister T.S.Singh Deo had earlier assured that the government will revisit and review the mandatory two-year bond service terms in the rural areas in Chhattisgarh and reduce it from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, nothing has been done in this regard. 

Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh Unit of United Doctors Front Association (UDFA) wrote to the State Health Department in this regard and requested for relaxing the rule so that the PG medical aspirants can join the courses without any trouble.

As per the MBBS bond terms in the State, the students need to submit an affidavit declaring that they will serve as doctors in the rural hospitals for two years after graduating the MBBS course. 

However, if they fail to fulfill the bond terms and decide to opt out for mandatory rural posting, they need to pay a bond amount of Rs 25 lakh to the Government. Even if the doctors decide to join PG medical courses before completion of the mandatory rural service, they need to submit the bond amount as a guarantee for obtaining the NOC for further studies.

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Only after serving the remaining period of mandatory rural service along with another two years of the PG course, the students get their Rs 25 lakh bond amount back. Otherwise the doctors need to forgo the bond amount.

If the students want to dodge bond service terms after completion of their PG medical courses, the students belonging to unreserved category need to pay Rs 50 lakh. However, the reserved category candidates need to pay Rs 40 lakh as penalty for dodging bond service.

Therefore, the MBBS graduates who have not yet completed their bond service terms and want to join PG medical courses, need to submit Rs 25 lakh penalty. This has become a huge problem for the doctors who hail middle-class background and need to arrange the bond amount for pursuing higher education.

For instance, the latest media report by Careers 360 mentioned about a PG medical aspirant hailing from the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, who need to arrange the bond amount for joining the PG course. The concerned candidate, who hails from a middle-class background, cleared NEET PG 2022 with a decent rank. He had been serving the Community Health Center (CHC) Koyalibeda, Kanker since February 2020 after completion of MBBS from Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS). However, he still has four months left for completion of his two-years mandatory posting.

Speaking about his problems for arranging the bond amount, he told the daily, "I want to participate in NEET PG 2022 counselling and hope to secure admission in a PG course. I come from a middle-class family and I don't have land worth Rs 25 lakh or anything else that I can use as a guarantee for the bond amount. If the government does not provide any relaxation, I won't be able to get admission this year. I will end up wasting one year."

While commenting on the issue, another student from CIMS Bilaspur said on the condition of anonymity, "I don't have money to pay the bond amount. I don't have property worth Rs 25 lakh to show as guarantee to get NOC. Six months are left for completion of my rural posting and till then NEET PG 2022 counselling for Chhattisgarh will be over. I will have to prepare and sit for NEET PG 2023 to get admission next year. I don't have other options."

Already, raising the problems faced by the medicos, the Chhattisgarh Unit of United Doctors Front Association (UDFA) approached the State Health Department and requested for relaxing the rules for providing NOCs to medical students who want to join PG medical courses after clearing NEET PG 2022.

Writing to the State Health Secretary, the association mentioned in a letter dated September 23, "In Chhattisgarh, signing a bond amount of Rs 25 lakhs has been made mandatory for contractual MBBS doctors to get NOC from Chhattisgarh Medical Council to study the PG medical courses for the last 2 years. There are many contractual doctors working in remote areas who neither have bond amount nor do they have properties to use as bond guarantee. Due to this, they are not able to get NOC and are being deprived of PG medical courses studies. Therefore, please bring laxity in this rule so that all the contracted doctors of Chhattisgarh get benefit and chance to study PG medical courses."

"There are many such rural doctors in Chhattisgarh, who have been selected for higher (MD/MS/DNB) education, but only they are not able to get the no-objection certificate due to not having a guarantee of 25 lakhs," the association mentioned in a Tweet.