The Health and Family Welfare Department has submitted a proposal to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences seeking its suggestion on offering training to Ayush doctors and post them to rural areas where there is dire need of doctors, Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader said on Monday.
He was replying to a calling attention motion moved by Govindaraju on the shortage of MBBS doctors in primary health centres across the State.
Khader said the department is planning to offer a bridge course to Ayush doctors to treat emergency cases in rural areas. This required a nod from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences authorities. They could be posted to rural areas after training them in basic allopathy in order to mitigate the problems of doctors in rural areas. Despite offering them good salary and all facilities, still doctors not coming forward to join government hospitals.
To a suggestion of Leader of Opposition D V Sadananda Gowda to request private medical colleges to take care of PHCs in their jurisdiction, the Health Minister said in the Legislative Council that this experiment was done in the past.
However, the government is ready to do it in the interest of rural poor. It was possible to improve health services in rural areas if managements of all private medical colleges make their students to work in rural areas compulsorily for at least one year.
Allama Prabhu Patil suggested the government to start diploma courses in MBBS so that the passed candidates could be posted to rural areas with a monthly honorarium.
The Health Minister said these courses were not recognised by the Medical Council of India. However, the government was committed to improve health services in rural areas.