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.

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Under NHM, the following incentives and honorarium are provided for encouraging doctors to practice in rural and remote hilly regions of the country:

• Hard area allowance to specialist doctors for serving in rural and remote areas and for their residential quarters so that they find it attractive to serve in public health facilities in such areas.

• Honorarium to Gynecologists/ Emergency Obstetric Care (EmoC) trained, Pediatricians & Anesthetist/ Life Saving Anaesthesia Skills (LSAS) trained doctors is also provided to increase the availability of specialists for conducting Cesarean Sections in rural & remote area.

• States are also allowed to offer a negotiable salary to attract specialists including flexibility in strategies such as "You Quote We Pay".

• Non-Monetary incentives such as preferential admission in post-graduate courses for staff serving in difficult areas and improving accommodation arrangements in rural areas have also been introduced under NHM.

2 years Diploma course is conducted for graduate doctors which can be pursued through NEET exam. Further, the said course is not limited to graduate doctors working in district hospitals only.

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