UP govt mandates 10-yr service for post-graduate medical students; levies Rs 1 crore fine

In a controversial move, the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday, has mandated 10 years of medical service for Post-graduation medical students. Elaborating on the decision, the state's principal Health secretary Amit Mohan, said that anyone failing to complete the mandatory service will be fined Rs 1 crore. He added that anyone leaving the course in between will be debarred from the PG degree course for the next three years.

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UP's mandatory medical service

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UP's current mandatory rural service

In 2018, the Uttar Pradesh government introduced two years Compulsory Rural Service Bond in medical courses, as per reports. As per the guidelines, MBBS/BDS students must pay a designated bond of 10 lakh, MD/MS students must pay 40 lakh, PG Diploma/MDS students must pay 20 Lakh and DM/MCh students must pay 1 crore, in case any medical student acts contrary to the bond.  This rule was passed in compliance with the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which was passed to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body.

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As per the Centre's rules, an MBBS student must pay a compulsory bond before taking admission in a post-graduation course in government medical colleges, before serving in public hospitals in rural areas for one year. In 2019, the Supreme Court has upheld the compulsory bond condition imposed by several states, urging the Centre to frame a policy to make it mandatory for students to serve in rural public hospitals. The Supreme court held that the government spends huge money on each medical student and hence the condition is not illegal and arbitrary and is meant to ensure that specialist healthcare is extended to rural areas.

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While several experts have contested against the decision, the government has believed that this will help improve rural health facilities. On the ground, the  audit report of 2009-2010 for the Maharashtra state by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) noted that "90% students who graduated from GMCs did not render service to the government.” Most medical graduates tend to skip the mandatory one-year stint with the government while not reimbursing the bond amount either, stated the report. Several other states too have witnessed a similar trend, leading to rural health sector remain neglected, due to lack of doctors.