MP likely to abolish Rs 10 lakh rural service bond for MBBS graduates
Bhopal: Bringing relief to the medical students pursuing the MBBS course in Madhya Pradesh, the State Government is likely to abolish the rural service bond of Rs 10 lakh.
The possibility of abolishing the rural service bond for medical students was discussed in a high-level meeting, adds a recent media report by Free Press Journal.
According to the rules of the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), it is mandatory for medical students to serve in the rural years for at least one year after completing their MBBS course.
The State of Madhya Pradesh had introduced the bond service system for those students who opt for studying in the Government Medical Colleges. As per the bond conditions, such students have to serve in rural areas of the State for a period of one year after completion of their UG or PG degrees.
While getting admitted to the medical colleges in the State, the students are required to execute a Rural Service Bond worth Rs 10 lakh and give an undertaking for one year of compulsory medical practice in the rural areas. If a student fails to comply with the bond service terms, he/she is required to cough up Rs 10 lakh as a penalty in the government treasury.
However, as per the latest media report by the Free Press Journal, the State government is now likely to abolish the rural service bond of Rs 10 lakh. Referring to this, DME director Dr. AK Shrivastava told the Daily, “A high level meeting was held over taking decision on abolishing the rural service bond for medical students.”
Commenting on this the President of MP Chikitsa Mahasangh Dr. Rakesh Malviya told FPJ, “We had two demands regarding bonds. Bonds worth Rs 10 lakh should be abolished and another demand is to reduce seat leaving bond price. Any student leaving the seat midway after taking admission in the medical college, has to cough up Rs 30 lakh. Both the demands were raised before CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan when he had visited Hamidia Hospital for inauguration of the new building.”
Medical Dialogues had last year reported that identifying the bond defaulters since the genesis of the Bond Service scheme, the State Medical Council of Madhya Pradesh had issued notice against around 4166 doctors belonging to five government medical colleges of the State.
As per the lists published by the Medical Council, the bond defaulters belonged to batches starting from 2002 and extending up to 2016. During this long period of 14 years, the Council data revealed that around 3824 doctors have not fulfilled their duties of serving in the rural areas.
Besides, among the total number of 4166 doctors, 2793 medical professionals chose to opt out of the bond service terms by depositing the bond amount in the autonomous funds of the medical colleges.
Meanwhile, last year the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court recently opined that the rural service bond, which ensures that doctors serve the rural areas after the completion of the UG or PG medical courses, becomes ineffective if the doctors are not given postings within a stipulated time frame as mentioned in the rules.
Also Read: Medical Council Issues Notice To 4166 Doctors For Skipping Bond Service in MP
