| Doctors say it will divide medical education and create two cadres of doctors |
Claim concept of a rural doctor will further complicate the treatment scenario
MCI proposal aimed at addressing shortage of doctors in rural areas
Thiruvananthapuram: Doctors, including those from the Health Service, and medical students marched to the Raj Bhavan and staged a dharna on Wednesday to protest against the Medical Council of India’s proposal to start a Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) course.
The protest, organised by the Indian Medical Association, recorded a heavy attendance with over 3,000 doctors and medical students, from both government and self-financing colleges across the State, and doctors’ service organisations like the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association, Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association and the Kerala Government Insurance Medical Officers’ Association participating in the three-hour dharna.
Inaugurating the dharna, the past national president of the IMA V.C. Velayudhan Pillai expressed the protest of the entire medical fraternity against the proposed rural medicine course. Dr. Pillai called for the Union Health Ministry to drop the proposal, which he said would create a deep divide in the medical education system by creating two cadres of doctors.
The MCI put forth the proposal to start a three-and-a-half year rural MBBS course, to be called the Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS), so that students from rural areas can be enrolled for the same, who can then serve in the district hospitals and the primary health centres in these areas. The MCI came up with this proposal in order to meet the shortage of doctors in rural areas. While some States have welcomed the proposal, the IMA pointed out that it would create a new cadre of doctors who were not as qualified as their urban counterparts.
According to the MCI proposal, the BRMS course will be conducted at district hospitals and community health centres where retired professors will conduct classes. Students from the Plus Two science stream from rural areas will be eligible to join the course. After completing the short-term course, these doctors will be eligible to serve only in district hospitals and PHCs/ CHCs in their States and not urban areas.
Doctors’ organisations point out that apart from creating a divide between doctors as rural and urban, the MCI’s proposal will restrict the geographic area where a doctor may serve. Doctors have also raised concern that when already a lot of quackery is thriving in rural areas, the concept of a rural doctor will further complicate the treatment scenario.
The IMA said that rather than creating half-baked set of doctors, the government should be doing more to improve the health infrastructure in rural areas and give more incentives to doctors to serve in these areas.
Through compulsory rural service, ensuring the participation of private medical colleges in rural health care and liberal health investment policies, the shortage of doctors to serve in rural areas can be tackled, the IMA said.
The MCI proposal is slated to be finalised by March after a national-level workshop in February, in which the Deans of all 300 medical colleges in the country, Vice-Chancellors of medical universities and the Directors of Medical Education from all States will take part.
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