Gujarat govt toughens rules for doctors to strengthen rural healthcare

The Gujarat government is formulating a new policy where doctors who fail to adhere to their service bonds for both MBBS and postgraduate courses will be allowed to serve for one-and-a-half years instead of the mandatory two years, Health Minister Rushikesh Patel told the Assembly Monday.

“Those who have signed the bonds and do not report to work are not handed over certificates for medical practice. But mostly, it is seen that doctors, who do not join or who do not pay the bond money, prepare for NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) for postgraduate courses. This we do not come to know. We are going to make a new policy wherein we will allow a student who has completed both MBBS and PG to serve (in the rural areas) for 1.5 years instead of the two years. Or else, the student has to pay Rs 20 lakh bond fee for MBBS and Rs 40 lakh for the PG course for freeing from the bond,” the minister said during the Question Hour.

“In the past three years, Rs 139 crore has been recovered from doctors from across the state for not fulfilling their service bonds,” Patel said, adding that students who go from super speciality courses have to pay a bond of Rs 50 lakh if they do not serve for a year in the rural areas.

The minister, while replying to supplementary questions on the same subject, said several doctors in the state do not serve in the rural areas as per the bond as “they have vacancies to serve in other places”.

In various written replies provided during the Question Hour, the state government has admitted that it is yet to recover bond money worth Rs 18.25 crore from 359 doctors in the state.

Medical Bonds: changes over years
2013: A Government Resolution (GR) mandates three years of rural tenure against a bond of Rs 5 lakh for MBBS graduates and Rs 10 lakh for postgraduates.

2014: Another GR issued exempts the bond condition for non­clinical subjects as such posts were not available in the Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres.

2018: Following a Supreme Court order, a GR deletes the bond condition for students taking admission under 15 per cent All-India Quota for undergraduate courses and for those under 50 per cent All-India Quota for PG courses at government medical colleges.

2019: Government reduces the tenure to one year, but increases bond forfeiture amount to Rs 20 lakh and Rs 40 lakh for MBBS and PG students respectively.

2020: The government notifies Covid-19 duty will be considered as part of the rural tenure mandated for graduate and PG medical students against a bond of Rs 40 lakh. Service in Covid-notified hospitals to be considered as double the time served under rural tenure.

April, 2021: A GR stipulates that for final-year PG students, the residency period would be extended by three months and would be counted as part of bonded service in a 1:1 ratio.

July, 2021: The health department issues another GR revoking the April 2021 GR and stipulating bond service period to be counted on par with non-Covid times at 1:1 ratio. The Indian Express