The Telangana state government has given an ultimatum to the striking junior doctors to join rural service before October 15, or else face the loss of next academic year.

Earlier last week, the Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) in Telangana have tried to block the counselling process and demanded that the Directorate of Medical and Health Education (DMHE) to first resolve their problems before posting them to primary healthcare centres (PHCs) for compulsory rural service.

The Telangana director of medical education has issued a notice to doctors stating that they would have to join government service before October 15, or else they would have to serve for 12 months, instead of the current nine months, which would eat into their next academic year.

Post-graduate doctors are now demanding the repeal of the guidelines governing their rural service issued last year, alleging that this year’s postings are in violation of the rules. Medicos demand that new orders be issued by the government regularising their posting, even though they would be in rural areas.

The government had issued guidelines for compulsory rural service, which had mandated that primary and secondary healthcare units be given preference. However, officials say that they were left with no choice but to give postings in tertiary hospitals with medicos protesting against rural postings. The medicos, however, say they are not against rural service per se, but want permanent jobs against the one-year period that they are currently serving.

“Government should discuss the requirement of doctors across all sectors and then give postings. They have been violating their own guidelines. Recently the government issued an order stating that a committee should monitor the implementation of the guidelines for rural service. But that committee, of which I am also a member, hasn’t met even once till now,” said Dr Abhilash, president of Junior Doctors’ Association.

Now the junior doctors are demanding that state government should re work and repeal the GO 107, which prescribed the rural service framework.