Rural Service now Mandatory for Medical council registration in Karnataka

The bill also covers graduates from other states. Earlier, rural service was mandatory only for those who studied in Karnataka. "Through this amendment, we are trying to make rural service compulsory for medical graduates from anywhere in the country if they want to register with KMC," minister for medical education Sharan Prakash Patil informed.

The bill however, provides partial relief for medical graduates as it lifts the ban on awarding of degrees for graduate and post graduate medical students who have not done compulsory rural service.

Deccan herald reports at present, the guidelines state no university shall award degree to such candidates who do not undergo compulsory rural service training.

However, with the new provisions while the medical students who skip rural service would be allowed to given university degree, but would not be given a  state medical council registration.

Another salient feature includes that for those who join post-graduate studies soon after MBBS, rural service can be exempted after graduation. "However, they have to do rural service once they finish post-graduation," the minister said.

With the amendment, the state plans to another 3,300 MBBS graduates and 2,000 post-graduates available to work in rural areas.