The Union Health Ministry has constituted a high level committee that will give recommendations on rural posting of MBBS students. The committee will be headed by Dr Sambhava Rao, Vice-Chancellor of NTR University of Health Sciences and has been asked to submit its report in one month.

Earlier, the ministry has planned to make one year rural internship mandatory for all MBBS students. The MBBS course is five-and-a-half years long programme in which last year is internship.

This plan has created a furor among MBBS students. They are agitating against it across the country. Mean while, the Union Health Minister, A Ramadoss clarified that this plan will not increase the duration of the course to six-and-a-half years, but during existing one year internship only the medicos will have to work in rural area. He also added that as government is providing adequate subsidy for students in Government colleges, it can ask them to work in rural areas.

However, final decision will be taken only after the recommendations from the said committee are made.

Source: Yahoo News