The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare has again postponed counselling for compulsory government service of MS/MD passed-out medical graduates by 10 days. This delay has hit 2,000 senior residents and 7,000 MBBS graduates of the 2019-20 batch.
Condemning the postponement for the second time, members of the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD) have demanded that the government should act immediately and conduct the counselling or free them from compulsory rural service.
The Karnataka Compulsory Medical Services Act, amended in 2017, prescribes one-year compulsory service in different types of government health institutions for all postgraduates and undergraduates passing out from Karnataka.
The results of the current MD/MS batch were announced by RGUHS on June 18 and the MBBS graduates finished their course in May 2022. Following multiple requests by KARD, the Health Department finally released a notification on July 18 opening up registrations for the counselling. Further, a second notification was released on July 28 extending the deadline for registration by 10 more days till August 8. This has been again extended by 10 days till August 18, according to a notification issued on Monday.
“What we learnt from the officials is that the government is waiting for approval from the Finance Department for creation of additional posts. It has been almost two months that we have been living with uncertainty,” said Namratha C., a KARD member.
“We are unable to join other hospitals because of the bond and have not been able to plan our future academic career. Despite being qualified specialist doctors, it is unfortunate that we are still dependent on our parents,” the member added.
