927 MBBS graduates posted for compulsory one-year government medical service
The Department of Health and Family Welfare has assigned 927 MBBS graduates to one year of compulsory government medical service, even as it exempted around 3,210 similarly placed graduates because there are not enough vacancies in government hospitals and health centres across the State.
The 927 doctors are government-quota students who studied in government and private medical colleges in the State, having been admitted in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, and who have since completed their compulsory rotating internship.
A senior official of the department said the mismatch between graduates and vacancies had widened as medical seats expanded over the years. "Earlier, as the number of medical seats was fewer, the number of graduates passing out was also few. Now, the situation has changed. We have more graduates than the vacancies available to accommodate under compulsory rural service," the official said.
The exemption of 3,210 graduates therefore reflects a shortage of posts rather than a change in policy, and the department has not indicated how those doctors will be accommodated in future.
The compulsory service runs for one year. Candidates who leave mid-term face a penalty, and a candidate who is absent from service for 30 consecutive days will not be allowed to rejoin and must instead pay a penalty of approximately ₹15 lakh.
Doctors must register on the Mobile Based Real Time Attendance System (KAMS) from the date they report for duty. A completion certificate will be issued only after this attendance requirement is met and the full one-year term is served.
The department has also specified that graduates serving this compulsory obligation are not permitted to attend medico-legal cases.
Compulsory government or rural service obligations are attached to subsidised government-quota seats in several States, on the reasoning that the public exchequer has underwritten part of the cost of medical education and is entitled to a period of service in return. Such bonds typically carry a financial penalty clause for default, and completion certificates often become a condition for accessing certain posts or further study.
The practical effect of the current order is that a large majority of the graduates passing out in this cycle will not be deployed at all, while a smaller group begins service under a penalty-backed bond. For patients in rural areas, the outcome depends on how many of the 927 posts are actually located at peripheral health centres rather than at district or teaching hospitals.
The department did not release a break-up of where the 927 doctors will be posted, or how many of the exempted graduates will eventually be called up if vacancies arise.
