Health Department Yet To Finalise Resident Doctors' Postings Under DRP In Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Health department has not finalised the postings of resident doctors under the District Residency Programme (DRP) in Madhya Pradesh.

The fresh batch of resident doctors was to join district hospitals and other state government health institutions from July 1 for three months.

According to resident doctors, the new batch was to be finalised after amendments to the rules. Earlier, the process was handled at the state level and resident doctors had the option of choice filling, but this provision has now been removed.

Deans and heads of departments (HoDs) will assign postings to resident doctors within the divisions where they completed their postgraduate studies. Following protests by doctors' bodies, the state government has gone on the back foot, leading to a delay in finalising the postings.

The District Residency Programme is a mandatory three-month rotational posting for all postgraduate medical students. Mandated by the National Medical Commission (NMC), it requires resident doctors to gain hands-on clinical and public health experience at district and sub-district hospitals.

"It is the first time after implementation of DRP that posting of resident doctors has not been finalised in time. Usually it is finalised two-three days before ending of DRP three months period of the previous doctors' batch. But this time, new batch was to join on July 1 and the list has not been released.

In fact health department is now in a dilemma over previous and new rulings leading to delay," said Dr Akash Soni, national spokesman, Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).