Vice President of India, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu pitched for a mandatory rural posting of MBBS graduates to address the shortage of doctors in rural and remote areas. Mr. Naidu was addressing the students at the 8 th convocation ceremony of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research ( PGIMER ) on April 26, 2018.
Honourable Vice President of India further pointed that all the stakeholders in the health sector must play a significant role in providing effective healthcare services to the people in rural areas. In terms of providing medical services, there should be no rural-urban divide, and all the people should get equal medical treatment or services, he urged.
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Mr. Venkaiah Naidu stressed that a systematic and comprehensive approach is mandatory to address the inequities and ensure access to affordable medical services in rural and remote areas. Doctors’ organisations, NGOs and private sector can play a more participatory role in supplementing the plans/ efforts of the governments in ending the divide between rural and urban, he explained.
According to Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, the only way to overcome the shortage of doctors might be the implementation of mandatory rural service rule for MBBS graduates before granting them the first promotion.
Mr. Naidu highlighted that the major concern in the health sector is affordability of healthcare services and medicines. In many cases, high treatment costs have forced many families into debts. Therefore, this major concern has to be addressed with immediate effect, he pointed.
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Vice President of India referred to a government’s scheme ‘Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission’, which is aimed at providing universal health coverage through insurance. Such schemes will protect at least 10 crore families from high expenditure on healthcare, he expressed.
Awarding degrees to the graduating students, Mr. Naidu advised them to maintain premier standards of ethics and morals and should never compromise on that. He also urged the students to serve India rather than serving abroad.