PG medical courses: Aspirants told to give proof of completing rural stint

As registrations for admissions in postgraduate medical and dental courses commenced from Saturday, some students are facing trouble in finishing the process on

As registrations for admissions in postgraduate medical and dental courses commenced from Saturday, some students are facing trouble in finishing the process on the registration website.

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Candidates who cleared their MBBS from the government-run medical institutes are being asked to either submit a certificate proving their one-year rural internship or a certificate that proves that the candidate has paid the fine to avoid the rural internship, without which their registration is not being accepted.

Students and activists have cried foul, especially because the Bombay high court has given temporary relief to such candidates until 2023, which makes them eligible for PG admissions despite not clearing their one-year rural bond.

“With the relief in place, we shouldn’t have been asked to show proof of serving the rural bond but as per the registration process, our form is not being accepted on the website unless we assure them that we have documents to prove either the bond service or payment of fine, which is unfair,” said a PG aspirant who finished his internship in Mumbai in 2019 and is now hoping for a seat in a good PG institute.

In October 2017, the state medical department had proposed to introduce changes to the duration of the MBBS course by adding a year of the rural medical stint to the existing 5.5 years of the course. This means, instead of the previous rule where students had up to six years after completing the 5.5 years of MBBS degree to opt for the rural stint, the rule highlighted that without the one-year rural stint, students will not be allowed to opt for their PG admissions.

It was also clarified that for admissions, students will have to submit the bond-free certificate (received after completing the one-year rural-internship) or a fee receipt that they will receive after paying the fine for not completing the compulsory bond service. This fine can range from ₹10 to 15 lakh, which includes a basic fine and an added 15% charge for the four years of their graduation.

“This same problem has occurred during the admission process last year, and students had no choice but to accept that they will submit an undertaking to prove their rural internship, however at the time of submitting documents as proof, students were allowed to give an undertaking with respect to the court order of 2019,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent and activist.

So far, the state Directorate of Medical Education & Research (DMER), as well as the state CET cell, has not given any clarification in this matter.