Speaking at an event to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat, the Chief Minister said that the village work requirement would be in place for graduates of MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) degrees unless they pursue further education. In those cases, graduates with postgraduate Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) degrees will be required to work in those areas for one year.
“When these students will come out they will increase the outreach of the health facility in rural areas,” Adityanath said, adding that “no one will be allowed to influence the government for an internship.’
Adityanath has announced targets of operationalising fifteen new medical colleges in the state by 2020, with the ultimate aim of having one college for every two districts. Seven of the fifteen colleges are accepting admissions this year, with a capacity of 700 MBBS seats.
“From 1947 to 2016, there were twelve government medical colleges in the state,” he said. “Our government has taken up construction of fifteen new medical colleges, two [All India Institutes of Medical Sciences] cancer institute between 2016-19. We are also adding super-specialty blocks to the already existing medical colleges.”
Rural India often bears the brunt of doctor shortages in the country as well as inadequate infrastructure. Ideas such as mandating physician service in villages are among the ways in which this can be addressed, assisting in the rollout of government-run schemes such as the Chief Minister’s (CM) Jan Arogya Yojana and the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat.
According to Adityanath, “8.45 lakh families have benefited through the CM Jan Arogya Yojana scheme and golden cards have been distributed to 1.89 lakh people.” Meanwhile, Ayushman Bharat benefits six crore people in Uttar Pradesh, a total of 1.18 lakh families. “While work has been up to the mark in several districts, in other districts, the pace of execution has been slow,” Adityanath said. “Such districts need to expedite the work.”
