90% med grads skip rural stint

[karira]

As reported by Malathy Iyer of TNN in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 7 July 2008:
90% med grads skip rural stint-Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India

90% med grads skip rural stint

MUMBAI: The list of medical graduates who passed out of the Grant Medical College attached to JJ Hospital at Byculla in 2007-'08 says the whole story: only three of the 109 students took up the mandatory government service. The rest paid Rs 1 lakh to break the state government's bond that requires them to put in a year's work in healthcare facilities in the state's hinterland.

The story is not unique to JJ Hospital. It's being played out in the state's 13 other government-run medical colleges as well, reveals data collected by the Youth For Equality under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

The state government's ‘one year or Rs 1 lakh' formula has obviously not succeeded in providing a steady stream of doctors for the rural healthcare system as it was meant to do. But it garnered over Rs 9 crore for the state coffers in bond money collection in 2006-'07, admits a senior official from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), which oversees medical education. But simple arithmetic shows that with a student pool of 2,060 medical graduates every year, the sum could well be much bigger than that.

But YFE, which has been fighting against any increase in reservation in higher education, interprets these statistics differently. "The information shows that it is not only students from the general category who pay the bond money," says YFE's Saket Kumar. Most students from the reserved category— be they from the OBC, SC or ST who get 100% free education—also skip the rural stint, he adds.

"The government asks students to put in a year of service in return for the subsidized medical education they avail of throughout the five years," points out Saket. "Ministers have held that medical students in the open category enjoyed subsided education (approx Rs 23,000 each year) and yet dodged the rural stint, but now we know that even those in the reserved category and those hailing from rural areas do the same," he adds. At present, reservation at the MBBS level is 50% (including 19% for OBC, 13% for SC and 7% for ST).

Take the case of GSMC attached to KEM Hospital in Parel. Of the 108 students admitted in the open category in the 2006-'07 academic year, about 75 paid the bond sum; 42 of the 48 students in OBC category did the same; 19 of the 23 SC students paid; and 8 of the 12 in ST category did the same.

The state's director general of services Dr Prakash Doke estimates that over 90% of the students don't take up government service. Barely 5% to 10% of the 3,300 students every year remain with the system, while others flock to private sector, he says.

Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of Nair Hospital, states that he has noted the paying-out trend in the last two years and has pointed it out to the DMER. "We are likely to hike this bond money this year so that new students know what is in store five years down the line," he adds.

The common complaint for not taking up the rural stint is the fact that infrastructure at primary healthcare centres is pathetic and there is no place for the student doctors to stay. "But in the next five years, we will develop the infrastructure so that students have a better experience," adds Dr Oak.

THE RTI AIM

The Youth For Equality filed an Right to Information (RTI) applications in 14 government-run medical colleges over three months back to prove that reservations don't always work. "Reservations are based on the presumption that these students can't pay for the education," says Dr Gunjan Sharma of YFE. "But within a week of the state government's announcement, the bond money is paid by these very students otherwise needing financial assistance," says another YFE member Saket Kumar. The YFE logic is that these students have the money after all.

"So economic class and not caste should be criteria for reservation," they chorus.

But not all agree with the YFE logic. Experts feel the trend is a pointer of a more serious problem-namely, the poor health infrastructure in the rural areas and the government's illogical formula.

Says former vice chancellor of Mumbai University Dr Snehalata Deshmukh, "Students hailing from the SC\ST category are most probably mortgaging their family land or jewellery to pay up the Rs 1 lakh bond fees." "How can you allow students to pay their way out of what could be the best education for them?" she asks.

Dr Vivek Korde of the Forum against Commercialisation of Education (FACE) believes that the RTI findings prove that, irrespective of their castes, only those with access to money actually make it to medicine. "If students don't want to take up the rural stint, it shows that the education system has failed in its duty empower and help society," he adds.

THE SOLUTION

By allowing students to pay Rs 1 lakh to avoid the rural stint, the government is allowing students to get off cheaply. "The government should improve the rural healthcare infrastructure even while increasing the bond money to Rs 20 lakh," believes Dr Korde. He adds that students coming from the rural areas should be asked to serve in their areas for five years. Dr Deshmukh feels that the rural stint should be given to doctors who are 55-plus. "Give them an extra sum for taking up the posting. Their experience will help the rural folk." She feels fresh MBBS students could be sent to work for a year in slums or NGOs in urban areas or in extended suburbs that have facilities that are as bad as in the rural sector.

[rishraM]

There are two probable solution to this vexed problem . One is to shift all medical colleges to Rural india with hostel facilities provided . Second is to establish the concept of PARAMEDICS capable of looking after almost 70 % medical needs of Urban India and then compelling doctors to complete RURAL stints to be eligible for the next promotion without any exception to the rules.

Originally Posted by karira

As reported by Malathy Iyer of TNN in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 7 July 2008:
90% med grads skip rural stint-Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India

90% med grads skip rural stint

MUMBAI: The list of medical graduates who passed out of the Grant Medical College attached to JJ Hospital at Byculla in 2007-'08 says the whole story: only three of the 109 students took up the mandatory government service. The rest paid Rs 1 lakh to break the state government's bond that requires them to put in a year's work in healthcare facilities in the state's hinterland.

The story is not unique to JJ Hospital. It's being played out in the state's 13 other government-run medical colleges as well, reveals data collected by the Youth For Equality under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

The state government's ‘one year or Rs 1 lakh' formula has obviously not succeeded in providing a steady stream of doctors for the rural healthcare system as it was meant to do. But it garnered over Rs 9 crore for the state coffers in bond money collection in 2006-'07, admits a senior official from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), which oversees medical education. But simple arithmetic shows that with a student pool of 2,060 medical graduates every year, the sum could well be much bigger than that.

But YFE, which has been fighting against any increase in reservation in higher education, interprets these statistics differently. "The information shows that it is not only students from the general category who pay the bond money," says YFE's Saket Kumar. Most students from the reserved category— be they from the OBC, SC or ST who get 100% free education—also skip the rural stint, he adds.

"The government asks students to put in a year of service in return for the subsidized medical education they avail of throughout the five years," points out Saket. "Ministers have held that medical students in the open category enjoyed subsided education (approx Rs 23,000 each year) and yet dodged the rural stint, but now we know that even those in the reserved category and those hailing from rural areas do the same," he adds. At present, reservation at the MBBS level is 50% (including 19% for OBC, 13% for SC and 7% for ST).

Take the case of GSMC attached to KEM Hospital in Parel. Of the 108 students admitted in the open category in the 2006-'07 academic year, about 75 paid the bond sum; 42 of the 48 students in OBC category did the same; 19 of the 23 SC students paid; and 8 of the 12 in ST category did the same.

The state's director general of services Dr Prakash Doke estimates that over 90% of the students don't take up government service. Barely 5% to 10% of the 3,300 students every year remain with the system, while others flock to private sector, he says.

Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of Nair Hospital, states that he has noted the paying-out trend in the last two years and has pointed it out to the DMER. "We are likely to hike this bond money this year so that new students know what is in store five years down the line," he adds.

The common complaint for not taking up the rural stint is the fact that infrastructure at primary healthcare centres is pathetic and there is no place for the student doctors to stay. "But in the next five years, we will develop the infrastructure so that students have a better experience," adds Dr Oak.

THE RTI AIM

The Youth For Equality filed an Right to Information (RTI) applications in 14 government-run medical colleges over three months back to prove that reservations don't always work. "Reservations are based on the presumption that these students can't pay for the education," says Dr Gunjan Sharma of YFE. "But within a week of the state government's announcement, the bond money is paid by these very students otherwise needing financial assistance," says another YFE member Saket Kumar. The YFE logic is that these students have the money after all.

"So economic class and not caste should be criteria for reservation," they chorus.

But not all agree with the YFE logic. Experts feel the trend is a pointer of a more serious problem-namely, the poor health infrastructure in the rural areas and the government's illogical formula.

Says former vice chancellor of Mumbai University Dr Snehalata Deshmukh, "Students hailing from the SC\ST category are most probably mortgaging their family land or jewellery to pay up the Rs 1 lakh bond fees." "How can you allow students to pay their way out of what could be the best education for them?" she asks.

Dr Vivek Korde of the Forum against Commercialisation of Education (FACE) believes that the RTI findings prove that, irrespective of their castes, only those with access to money actually make it to medicine. "If students don't want to take up the rural stint, it shows that the education system has failed in its duty empower and help society," he adds.

THE SOLUTION

By allowing students to pay Rs 1 lakh to avoid the rural stint, the government is allowing students to get off cheaply. "The government should improve the rural healthcare infrastructure even while increasing the bond money to Rs 20 lakh," believes Dr Korde. He adds that students coming from the rural areas should be asked to serve in their areas for five years. Dr Deshmukh feels that the rural stint should be given to doctors who are 55-plus. "Give them an extra sum for taking up the posting. Their experience will help the rural folk." She feels fresh MBBS students could be sent to work for a year in slums or NGOs in urban areas or in extended suburbs that have facilities that are as bad as in the rural sector.