TN Doctors' body urge govt to reduce bond service period for non service PG, SS batches 2021, 2022

Chennai: Resident doctors in Tamil Nadu have urged the government to reduce the bond period for Non-Service Post Graduates and super speciality doctors who joined courses in 2021 and 2022 from two years to one year.

The demand was raised by the Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE), whose general secretary, Dr GR Ravindranath, addressed the media on Monday.

Dr Ravindranath pointed out that the government had already reduced the compulsory bond service period to one year for the 2023-24 batch due to a lack of vacancies. He urged the authorities to extend the same benefit to doctors from the 2021 and 2022 batches.

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He also referred to a Union government notification stating that the mandatory service period could be reduced to one year in the coming years, depending on demand for doctors in government hospitals.

Raising concerns over the retention of original course certificates, the DASE general secretary said, as reported by TNIE, doctors were being given their certificates only after completing the bond service. He argued that doctors who joined postgraduate courses in 2021 should have already been released from the bond.

He also said the Madras HC had ruled that when women doctors on compulsory service take maternity leave, the period should be counted as service. The government should follow the ruling, he added.

Medical Dialogues had reported in 2025 that Tamil Nadu resident doctors had urged the Government to reduce the bond period for Non-Service Post Graduates from 2 years to 1 year and also reduce the bond amount from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for PG medical degree holders and from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for diploma holders.

In this regard, the Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors Association (TNRDA) wrote to the Director of the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) on 30.01.2025. Apart from urging the authorities to reduce the bond period and bond amount, the association also demanded that bond postings should be issued within 1-3 months of course completion and requested the release of original certificates if bond postings are delayed beyond 3 months.

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