Doctors should be made compulsory in rural areas for 3 to 5 years: Vice President

New Delhi: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, while speaking at the 11th Annual Medical Teachers’ Day Awards function here on Sunday, said three to five years of service in rural areas should be made mandatory before giving the first promotion to doctors in the government sector.

Naidu said that 60 per cent of the country’s population lives in villages and doctors should serve the country diligently. When you are in a dilemma, always follow the highest level of ethics, he said. If you can serve with a spirit of selfless dedication, you get immense and real happiness.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need for better health infrastructure and asked the State Governments to pay special attention to this aspect. Referring to the government’s efforts to bridge the gap in doctor-patient ratio in the country, he also stressed on the need to increase the number of medical colleges. He said the doctor-patient ratio is 11,456 against the WHO’s standard of 11,000.

He further emphasized that both medical education and treatment should be affordable and within the reach of the common man. The Vice President said that medical education should be given top priority with more allocation of the budget.

Referring to the rapidly changing technological world, he urged the medical colleges to ensure that the people passing through his portal are aware of the latest diagnosis and treatment systems.

“This has become all the more imperative in the wake of the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 as everything about the coronavirus pandemic is a new learning for everyone from scientists to doctors,” he said.