Make rural stint compulsory for doctors, no lollipop will work here
No soft-pedal approach will work here
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The Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s lollipop of giving double salary and other perks to the doctors who are willing to work in rural, hilly, tribal and other difficult areas may not work as even with such attractive facilities the doctors may not go to the villages where other facilities, which are available in urban areas, are dim.
It is a time tested fact that the doctors, as is the case with others like government officers, are so infatuated with the urban luxuries that they will not go to the villages on their own even with the attraction of high salaries. Only the doctors whose aim is to serve humanity will go to the villages.
But, the question is how many doctors have such a mentality in today’s world.
Taking a softer stand than his predecessor Anbumani Ramadoss, who wanted to make a one-year rural stint compulsory for MBBS students, Azad said he would attract doctors from public and private sectors by paying them higher salaries. "We will hire doctors on contract and pay them double the salary of what they would otherwise earn in cities, if they work in rural, hilly, tribal and difficult areas. We hope higher monetary incentives will help us combat the shortage of doctors," Azad had said.
Despite 31,000 medical graduates passing out every year and there being 6,83,582 registered allopathic doctors, only one in 10 works in rural areas. It should have been the other way round as the majority of our populace live in villages and rural areas.
"The shortage of specialist doctors is one of the main bottlenecks in improving the public healthcare system. My ministry will formulate a comprehensive medium and long-term policy within three months to meet deficiencies of human resources in the health sector," Azad said. The minister promised to "substantially" increase the number of seats in post-graduate courses in 19 state government medical colleges.
In spite of all his tall talks, what remains to be seen is that whether Azad’s soft pedalling works or not.
I am of the firm belief that such soft-pedaling will not work in our country. Time has changed, so is the mentality of the doctors. They are no longer in the service of sufffering humanity.
At a time when the medical profession has also become a business activity, such attitude is not bound to work.
Instead, make at least one-year rural stint compulsory for MBBS students.
