A new rule proposed by the Board of Governors(BoG), the Medical Council of India directs all the postgraduate medical students to serve in district hospitals for at least three months to be eligible to appear in the final exam.
The BoG has written to the Health Ministry to develop guidelines for implementation of the proposal for postgraduate students in partnership with it and the state governments. It has also sought that this provision comes into force from the next academic year.
According to a note sent to the Union Health Ministry, all postgraduate students should undertake a rotation in designated district hospitals/health system for three months as a part of the course curriculum. “The move is aimed at providing practical experience to future specialists in the real-life setting of the country’s public health system. Also, this will help address the shortage of specialist doctors in district hospitals of rural and remote areas, and help strengthen services at such hospitals,” a senior government official said.
For those who study community medicine, the requirement can be posting at primary health centres and field experience in addition to activities at the district hospital.
“Satisfactory completion of this rotation shall be an essential condition before the candidate is allowed to appear in the final examination of the respective postgraduate course. The Ministry of Health is requested to develop guidelines for the scheme in partnership with the state government and BoG in three months,” it read.
A district hospital will be defined broadly as a functional public sector or publicly-funded hospital of about 200 beds or more, with facilities for specified specialities, designated by the Centre or state governments for the proposed programme. Both government, as well as private medical colleges, will place their post-graduates at the disposal of the government for rotation/posting for the duration of the course.
The rotation will be provisionally termed as ‘District Residency Programme’ and the postgraduate student undergoing this posting will be termed as ‘District Resident’.
“Ensuring training of doctors in varied settings of the health system is a well-recognised principle in medical education. This (proposal) exposes future physicians and specialists to diverse clinical materials. District hospitals represent the backbone of the country’s secondary level public healthcare providing speciality care. These hospitals are closer to people than most medical colleges, and are an overwhelming source of services for the people, rural and urban alike,” a senior government official said. As part of the suggested plan for implementation of the proposal, the BoG said the District Residency Programme may be coordinated by the Directorate General of Health Services and the role will include preparing an annual roster for placement of the batch of postgraduate students.
Currently, students pursuing undergraduate medical courses are attached to primary health centres or urban health centres for three months as part of a compulsory rotating internship.

Source: ET Healthworld.

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