Doctors in India have taken to social media to question why graduates from premier engineering institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) don’t undergo bond service at government organisations, just like medical graduates do at public hospitals.

These comments come amid concerns of talent from top engineering institutions not opting to work at ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), DRDO (Defense Research & Development Organisation) and other government agencies.

"I wonder why only doctors should have bonds to work for govt. Enforce them on IITians also to work for ISRO, DRDO etc (.sic),” Dr Deepak Krishnamurthy, lead consultant and senior interventional cardiologist at KIMS (Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences) Hospital in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account, Business Today reports.

Dr Krishnamurthy was responding to a comment by former ISRO chief S Somanath's about the lack of interest among IITians in joining the space agency.

These concerns were also echoed by Dr G Rajesh, Professor and Head of Cardiology at Government Medical College, Kozhikode. “Let them (IITians) go to US, no issues. But we doctors have bond, up to 10 years in certain states after doing MBBS or MD or superspeciality. Why these guys are exempted? You spend much more money for them!! (.sic)," he replied to the post, tagging the Prime Minister’s Office.

Both doctors issued their reactions to a resurfaced interview of the former ISRO chief from 2023, who stated that the organisation found it challenging to attract top talent from the IITs, 60 per cent of whom let go of offers to join ISRO after looking at the pay scale offered to them.

“Our best talents are supposed to be engineers and they are supposed to be IITians. But, they are not joining ISRO,” he said.