States allowed to offer negotiable salary to attract specialists in rural areas: Health Minister

New Delhi: With a severe shortage of specialists particularly in rural areas, the government has taken several steps at a policy level to ensure that enough specialist doctors are available in the remote areas of the country.  The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar  in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha recently apprised the parliament about the steps taken ranging from District Residency Program to flexible policy of pay that states can offer to the specialists working in rural areas.

As per the District Residency Program notified by the Board of Governors, all the post-graduate students pursuing MD/MS in broad specialities in all Medical Colleges/Institutes under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 shall undergo a compulsory residential rotation of three months in District Hospitals/ District Health System as a part of the course curriculum.

All the administrative and personnel matters related to health human resource including specialist doctors of various streams of medicines in rural and remote hilly regions lies with the respective State/UT Governments. However, under National Health Mission, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare provides financial and technical support to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) within their overall resource envelope.