Gandhinagar: Rural Healthcare Facilities in Gujarat

Providing details about the rural healthcare facilities in Gujarat, the State Government on Thursday revealed before the assembly that during the course of the last two years, more than 83 per cent MBBS graduates have opted out of the mandatory rural service.

IANS has reported that out of the 2,269 MBBS pass-outs in the last two years as of December 2020, as many as 1,894 did not turn up for their services in rural areas, while only 373 youth displayed their loyalty towards the state, which is a paltry 16.43 percent.

However, Congress alleged that owing to the ineffectiveness of the BJP government in the state, the rural people in Gujarat are compelled to visit private doctors.

Also Read: Gujarat Govt to rope in private practitioners to deal with doctor shortage

It may be noted that Gujarat's rural healthcare system had suffered due to an insufficient number of doctors during the tough times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the state government had initiated policy changes, increased the bond amount from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, and also brought down the earlier mandated service tenure from three years to one year in order to boost rural healthcare. But all these efforts seem to have failed to yield the desired results.

Only 239 of the 1,894 MBBS pass-outs who refused to serve in the rural areas had paid the bond amount, which is only 12.61 per cent.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also holds the health portfolio, informed the House that only Rs 12.8 crore has been levied from those who did not serve in the rural pockets, while the outstanding amount is a whopping Rs 69.53 crore.

It had earlier been reported that in an attempt to address the acute shortage of health specialists in the State-run hospitals in Gujarat, the Government had decided to take steps to rope in private practitioners for the purpose.

Also Read: Gujarat Govt mandates Covid-19 duty for all MBBS, paramedical students