Upset over the recent amendment in the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations of Medical Council of India (MCI), the under-graduate medical students in the country have asked the union health ministry to have a relook at the amendment which makes one year rural posting in a PHC (public health centre) mandatory for becoming eligible to take admission in a PG course.

According to sources, a delegation of under-graduate students recently met senior officials in the union health ministry and lodged their protest against the amendment in the PG Medical Education Regulations of MCI. Urging the government to have a relook at the proposal, the students demanded that one year rural posting should not be made an eligibility criterion for admission to PG courses.

The students suggested that such posting should be made voluntary and the respective state governments should take the responsibility for providing security to doctors posted in rural areas. They also proposed that the PHCs in rural areas should be inspected from time to time by an independent panel of doctors. The student representatives wanted them to be consulted in this matter as it concerns their career prospects.

Sources said that after hearing the students' arguments, the officials informed them that the amendment in PG medical regulation was in line with the commitment of the government to improve the availability of doctors in rural and remote areas of the country.

The shortage doctors in the rural areas of the country has been a major issue that the government has been facing for a long time as the doctors generally prefer cities for working. Though the government had taken several measures to arrest the trend during the last several years, the situation did not improve as the doctors continued to prefer working in the cities and towns only.