One year mandatory government service for medical PG students after course completion in AP

VIJAYAWADA: All post-graduate and super-speciality medical students gaining admission under the state quota will have to undergo one-year mandatory government service on completion of their course.

According to a Government Order (GO MS 251), students joining the courses in the 2022-2023 academic year onwards should execute a bond, promising to serve the government for one year. They should join 
the service within 18 months of completing their respective medical courses.

A penalty of Rs 40 lakh would be slapped on PG students, and Rs 50 lakh on super-speciality students, if they violated the bond conditions. Dr YSR University of Health Science, too, has issued a notification to this effect.

MT Krishna Babu, Principal Secretary (Health Medical and Family Welfare) stated in the order that post-graduate, as well as super-speciality students admitted to government medical colleges under state quota and Category-A seats in private medical colleges, should serve in Andhra Pradesh Vaidya Vidya Parishad or the Director of Medical Education (APVV/DME) hospitals.

Dr YSR University registrar Prof. CH Srinivasara Rao said the bond system was in existence during 2013-2017 for PG students. Students, meanwhile, were miffed with the order. J Chandan Kumara Sai, a top NEET-PG rank holder from Vijayawada said the CHCs, PHCs and Government hospitals did not have adequate facilities to utilise the students’ specialisation, and the students would have no objection if they could provide the facilities. 

He alleged that the government was not interested in appointing permanent doctors to PHCs, CHCs and government hospitals. Another NEET-PG rank holder N Tanuj objected to the timing of the order, which was issued after the first round of national and state counselling. He termed it discriminatory to make the service mandatory only for state quota students, and not for others.