K'taka minister appeals to docs to opt for rural service

Mysuru, Nov 11 (IANS) Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar on Wednesday urged the doctors that they should be willing to serve in rural areas as 70 per cent of the population resides in rural parts.With a section of doctors having already approached the court seeking relief from government's decision to make medicos serve in rural areas compulsorily, the minister urged them to withdraw their case and serve in rural areas voluntarily."You are free to study abroad, but come back to your motherland and serve here after the completion of studies," the minister said while speaking in the 11th convocation ceremony of the JSS Higher Education and Research Academy here.Sudhakar said that the state government had made it mandatory for the post-graduate medical students to serve in rural areas after completion of their courses."As many as 2,500 medicos will be completing their graduation this year. Doctors should be responsible enough to serve in rural areas on humanitarian grounds," he added.According to Sudhakar, at present there is one doctor for every 11,000-12,000 people in the state, which is a very skewed ratio."Only one bed is available for every thousand people. As per the WHO standards, there should be a doctor for every thousand people and 2.7 beds per thousand population. The Union government has given approval to establish 150 medical colleges in the last six years. Additional 17,000 seats have been added to post-graduate courses. The health sector has been strengthened by all these measures, hence I request you to serve in rural areas willingly," he said.He also asserted that the Covid-19 pandemic has been managed well in the country of more than 1.3 billion people. "Global mortality rate due to Covid is at 3.8 per cent, but it is 1.4 per cent in India and 1.3 per cent in Karnataka. Earlier, we had a 19 per cent positivity rate in some districts, but it is reduced to 2.2 per cent now," he claimed.While heaping praise on JSS Academy, the minister said that the war against Covid-19 is still on. "The JSS has provided 1,800-bed hospital and staff for this purpose and actively participated in this fight. The state is greatly indebted to them," he said.
--IANS nbh/arm