Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Regions like Jabalpur, Gwalior and Rewa will face a shortage of resident doctors under the District Residency Programme (DRP) due to the state government's decentralisation policy.
Bhopal and Indore will, however, have a surplus of resident doctors for posting under the DRP.
According to junior resident doctors, earlier the health department executed postings on the basis of ranking and choice filling, but after decentralisation, deans and heads of departments (HoDs) will make postings within their divisions.
Jabalpur, Gwalior and Rewa each have one old government medical college with resident doctors. New medical colleges will take seven years to have them. Thus, these regions will face a shortage of resident doctors.
In Rewa division, Satna Medical College started in 2023 and Singrauli Medical College in 2024. A similar situation exists in the Gwalior-Chambal and Jabalpur regions, which depend on old government medical colleges.
On the other hand, Bhopal and Indore divisions have government as well as private medical colleges with residency programmes. These regions will therefore have a surplus of resident doctors.
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"Decentralisation policy gives power to Dean and HoDs for posting the resident doctors. We resident doctors do not have provision for choice filling.
Earlier, entire state had uniform posting of resident doctors. Now, we have limited options within divisions.
This decentralised policy will generate shortage of resident doctors in Rewa, Jabalpur and Gwalior but surplus of them in Bhopal and Indore division."
- Dr Akash Soni, national spokesman, Federation of All India Medical Association
