To combat acute shortage of doctors in rural areas, the government has come up with a unique three-and-a-half-year bachelor course in medicine and surgery (MBBS) for students from villages. The catch is these doctors will not be allowed practise in urban or semi-urban areas
This is ridiculous. Does this mean that villagers are second class citizens who should not get the best medical facilities?
There is a simple way to solve lack of doctors in the rural areas. Institute a Licensing system for all Medical Practitioners whereby the licence is renewed every 5 years. This should include both the public and private doctors. One of the conditions for renewing the license should be that they have spent 6 months in the rural clinics and hospitals. There should not be any problem for the Government doctors to do a rural stint. The Private doctors can be compensated for the loss of income by paying them the standard salary for the 6 months.
