TN Resident doctors seek withdrawal of NMC's District Residency Programme

Chennai: Opposing the implementation District Residency Programme (DRP) in Tamil Nadu, the resident doctors have requested the Health Secretary and Director of Medical Education to stop its implementation in the State. 

According to some postgraduate medical students, Tamil Nadu is one of the few states that has implemented DRP, as mandated by the National Medical Commission (NMC). The first batch have already received their posting instructions on February 1st. 

According to The Hindu, DME issued a circular following which postgraduate medical students of 2021 batch under broad speciality courses were directed to undergo DRP. However, RDA submitted a letter to the Health Secretary and stated, “We, as a whole batch, unitedly express our discontent and vehemently oppose the programme..."

The association also pointed out a number of adverse outcomes that the doctors would have to bear due to the implementation of DRP. The doctors pointed out that the 36 months of training is important and postgraduates should devote this time in their primary field of study and any related super specialties, reports the daily. They should also receive training in research methodology, publish research articles in scholarly journals, and complete their dissertation research.

The DRP system places postgraduates in secondary healthcare hospitals where their parent specialties may or may not be available. Hence, it is not certain whether they will complete their training in those fields.

The NMC's justified the step stating that DRP would provide doctors exposure to the secondary healthcare system. However, the Resident Doctors Association found the reason to be unacceptable because it denied postgraduates access to the learning experience at fully equipped tertiary care facilities.

Moreover, the doctors would undoubtedly work in secondary healthcare facilities after completing their MD/MS studies because Tamil Nadu has a mandatory bond period of up to two years for non-service postgraduates and up till superannuation in the case of service postgraduates.

Many doctors have taken the help of social media to express their opinion regarding the DRP system and stated, " In District Residency Programme, the post graduates need to be posted only in their concerned specialities. They should be provided proper accomodation. They should be given weekly off."