"We obeyed the government rules, worked hard and offered our services at the government and community hospitals; yet, we are now left in the lurch," shared senior resident doctors who worked for 11 months at the Madikeri District Hospital in Karnataka. According to a report by TNIE, the state government mandates medical graduates to serve in rural areas for one year after the completion of their course and the same was imposed strictly in 2021 during the pandemic.
However, over 500 graduates from a few private medical colleges opposed the move with a court case, which was ruled out several times. "Due to the court case, our degree certificates were not handed over to us despite the completion of the course. Even as the court case was ongoing, the government medical college students started their rural postings in their respective government hospitals. However, the private college students who did not oppose the rural posting were left hanging for four months after the course completion from August to December," explained Dr Kumar (name changed), a senior resident doctor who was serving at the District Hospital in Madikeri, to TNIE.
Nevertheless, the rural postings were confirmed by December 2021 and the postgraduates who did not oppose the posting reported to the respective Government, Primary Healthcare Centres and Community Hospitals during the December-January months. The graduates were posted as Senior Resident Doctors, as per the counselling. However, with the over 500 petitioners (of private colleges) recently winning the case against the state challenging the rural posting, the students who obeyed the government rules have been forcefully removed from their posts before the completion of the one-year rural posting bond, reported TNIE.
"After the disposal of the case, not just the petitioners, all the private college graduates have been relieved from the bond," Dr Kishan (named changed), another doctor who offered service in Kodagu, told TNIE. Meanwhile, the government medical college students won another court case where the four-month COVID duty (April to July 2020) has been added to the rural posting bond and they were relieved of the bond in April 2021. Since these students finished their rural postings way ahead of the private college students, they joined jobs with promotions.
"But now, we have been forced to leave the rural posting even as our salaries of 1.5 months have been withheld. Further, we will receive certification for only 11 months and this certification will not get us a job with promotion and we will have to continue as senior resident doctors for another six months. Also, due to the abrupt ending of the bond and with government college students finishing their posting way ahead of us, we are left with very few job opportunities," Dr Kumar told TNIE.
Many are unable to repay their education loans and 45% of the medical graduates of 2021 are left in the lurch. When questioned, Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences Dean Dr Kallichanda Cariappa explained, "The state has passed an order to relieve the doctors under rural bonding and the same has been followed. We are unsure if the state will release the salaries of these doctors if they continue with the bond. We have followed the orders and any other issues with regard to the certification must be dealt with by the health commissioner." With the Resident Doctors Association also in favour of the state, the graduates who played a key role during the worst COVID times have been ignored and neglected.
