Junior Doctors Seek Two-Month DRP As Posting Schedule Faces Prolonged Delay

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Despite a month-long delay in the District Residency Programme (DRP) schedule, the health department has decided to retain its three-month duration.

Junior doctors, however, have demanded that it be reduced to two months, saying the delay could disrupt their residency schedule, including thesis and research work.

The last DRP ended in June, but the schedule for the next batch, which should have been released before its completion, was issued only at the end of July, causing a month-long delay.

With August now coming to an end, the new list of doctors is yet to be finalised. Junior doctors fear the delay will disrupt their entire residency course.

The delay followed a change in rules that limits residents to district hospitals within their respective divisions instead of allowing postings across the state.

The dean of the respective medical college has also been given discretion over the postings. The new rules have faced opposition over concerns that they could affect the uniform availability of doctors across the state.

Resident doctors have to submit a thesis or dissertation to complete postgraduate medical training like MD, MS or DNB programmes as it is part of their residency course.

DRP is a mandatory three-month rotational posting for all postgraduate medical students (MD/MS), introduced by the National Medical Commission.

Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) Dr Akash Soni said, This adamant attitude of the Health Department will disrupt the entire schedule of resident doctors.

After the delay of finalising the schedule, which was not the fault of junior doctors, we had demanded to reduce DRP for two months instead of three months for a smooth further residency course. Now august is ending, but a new schedule has not been issued.