RUPNAGAR: Indian Medical Association (IMA) has criticized the move to introduce Bachelor of Rural Health Care degree course by the Union Government to serve rural areas.
In a statement, IMA Punjab chapter president Dr R.S. Parmar maintained that people living in villages are under served and need better care and’ services.
“There has been a shortage of doctors in rural areas. But, compromising on the quality of health care will prove disastrous in the long run,” said Dr Parmar. He said MBBS doctors were available to serve in rural areas, yet the service conditions, the lack of infrastructure, intellectual starvation, the lack social interaction at village level for newlywed couples and children’s education were the real reasons for doctors not reaching out to villages.
Moreover, a similar scheme introduced in Madhya Pradesh (Chhattisgarh) has failed and was later withdrawn. The national human rights com mission has also advised not to discriminate between rural and urban people, he said.
“Whereas’ the Government of India is contemplating introducing the Clinical Establishment (Regularization and Registration) Bill to improve the standard of Medicare at the national level, posting sub-standard doctors at the village level is a retrograde step,” the IMA has said.
SOURCE-HT
