MEDICAL SERVICES REMAIN HIT AS GOVT, STUDENTS DEADLOCK CONTINUES

The Haryana government’s contentious bond policy has evoked strong protests from the MBBS students, who have been striking work and staging protests against it. The policy compels the students to work for the state government for seven years on completion of their course. Hitender Rao looks at the pros and cons of the matter.

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The MBBS students studying in government institutions have to execute a ₹ 36.40 lakh tripartite bond at the time of admissions. This has been done to ensure that they serve for the government for seven years.

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If a medical student on the completion of graduation opts or gets to serve in a Haryana government public health institution, then the government will repay the annual instalments of the loan, including the interest, till the time the doctor continues to serve in government public health institutions or government medical colleges, the maximum duration being seven years.

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He would have to shell out the ₹ 36.40 lakh sum to the government. The bond will be implemented at the end of the MBBS course if the candidate does not opt to serve in the government after his selection. No bond money is required to be paid at the time of admission.

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The move is aimed at utilising the services of doctors, who are beneficiaries of subsidised medical education in government institutions for public good.

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The Supreme Court, in a 2019 judgement, has upheld the bond policy imposed for super specialty courses by several states.

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The students feel that the bond amount which they will avail through a bank loan will be an impediment in the way of higher studies and specialization, talent will be nipped in the bud and being forced to work for government will be a violation of their rights.

Courts have held that state has a legitimate interest in ensuring the students, who benefitted from the infrastructure created by it, must contribute back to the community by public service. Huge infrastructure has to be developed and maintained for running medical colleges with post-graduate and super specialty courses. The amount of fees charged from the students is meagre in comparison to the private medical colleges.

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The students say that the bond amount of ₹36.40 lakh is unjustified and unreasonable, there is no surety that they will get a regular government job and the prospects of getting a contractual appointment in government institutions will not offer them commensurate remuneration.

The apex court suggested that since certain state governments have rigid conditions in the compulsory bonds to be executed by students, suitable steps be taken by the central government and Medical Council of India to have a uniform policy regarding the compulsory service to be rendered by the doctors who are trained in government institutions.

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The Union ministry of health is learnt to be deliberating the matter and reportedly proposes to discard the bond policy on basis of recommendation of national medical commission.

ROHTAK: Medical services remained affected at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here after MBBS students and resident doctors on Tuesday refrained from the outpatient department (OPD) for three hours protesting against the state government’s bond policy, warning the government of intensifying their stir if their demands were not met.

The security guards did not allow the entry of MBBS students in the OPD, forcing the students to observe peaceful sit-ins outside the Chaudhary Ranbir Singh OPD.

Priya Kaushik, an MBBS student, said that without any written orders or notification, the security officials restricted their entry inside the OPD.

“We have been protesting peacefully since November 1 and patients have been extending their support to us. We are helping patients while referring them to emergency wards. The resident doctors observed a threehour pen-down strike. If the government fails to revoke this policy, we are considering options like shutting down OPD services and even emergency services for an indefinite period of time,” she added. The students have been demanding rollback of the contentious bond policy.