Centre to do away with bond policy for doctors? What report suggests
- The amount of bond varies from state to state and ranges widely between ₹5 lakh up to ₹2.5 crore
The Union Health Ministry is reportedly creating guidelines to do away with the bond policy for doctors that requires them to work for a specified period in a state run hospital after their graduation and postgraduation course is completed. Doctors who fail to do so have to pay a penalty (amount specified beforehand by every state and union territory) to the state or medical college.
The effort to scrap the bond policy for doctors has been taken up by the Health Ministry following the recommendation of the National Medical Commission (NMC), news agency PTI reported.
In August 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the bond policy of states and observed that certain governments impose rigid conditions. It suggested that the Centre and the then Medical Council of India should frame a uniform policy regarding the compulsory service to be rendered by doctors trained in government institutions which will be applicable across states, a person familiar with the matter informed PTI.
Following the apex court's recommendation, the health ministry formed a committee to look into the matter who further forwarded their recommendation to to the National Medical Commission (NMC) for comments.
"The NMC, in its comments, stated that since the promulgation of the bond policy by the various states, much has changed in medical education in the country and therefore, it may be worth reviewing the merits/effectiveness of this policy by the various states.
"The NMC submitted its detailed observations. In view of its observations and notwithstanding the observations of the SC upholding the legalities related to the bond policies of the state governments, the commission was of the considered view that medical students should not be burdened with any bond conditions and doing so may run contrary to the principles of natural justice," PTI quoted the person familiar with the matter
Further, the matter was thoroughly examined by the ministry and it was proposed that there is a need to re-examine the entire bond policy de-novo along with the views of all states, union territories and other stakeholders.
Following this meeting were held to finalise a uniform operation of the bond policy across all states. The uniform policy would include-quantum of bond, manner of enforcement and timely availability of posts in states after completion of internship.
There is no provision of a bond under the NMC Act, 2019 or the erstwhile Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and regulations made thereunder. The condition of bond is imposed by the state to increase access to improved healthcare services, especially in rural areas by filling the vacant position in community health centres (CHCs) and primary health centres (PHCs).
The amount of bond is decided by the state in lieu of subsidised education being provided in the government medical colleges.
The amount of bond varies from state to state and ranges widely between ₹5 lakh (Goa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu) and ₹1 crore (Uttarakhand) for MBBS and up to ₹2-2.5 crore (Kerala, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra) for PG and super-speciality.
The duration of compulsory service also varies between 1 year and 5 years.
"In a meeting, it was observed that there is a consensus that there should be mandatory rural service to enhance availability of doctors in rural and remote areas with flexibility. Also, the bond could be non-financial and implemented through an administrative mechanism," the person added.
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First Published:6 Nov 2022, 05:14 PM IST
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