Bihar medicos to sign bond: pay Rs 15L for quitting PG courses, Rs 25L for not serving 3 years in state

Medical students pursuing post graduate (PG) courses at government colleges will have to pay Rs 15 lakh if they quit the course midway. And those, who acquire PG degree also needed to serve at least three years in the state to avoid paying Rs 25 lakh to the government. 

Henceforth, the students desirous of taking admission in the PG courses of government colleges in the state will have to fill up two separate bonds at the time of admission - one for not quitting the course midway and another for offering at least three years’ service in the state after completing their course. 

A decision to introduce the bond system for PG students in medical colleges of Bihar was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar here on Wednesday. 

Briefing reporters after the meeting, principal secretary of cabinet secretariat department Brijesh Mehrotra said those quitting the course midway would also have to pay back the stipend paid to them, apart from the amount pledged by them in the bond they sign. 

Sources in the health department said the decision to introduce the bond system was prompted by huge vacancies in non-clinical and para-clinical PG courses like forensic science, anatomy and physiology and an acute shortage of specialised doctors in district and block hospitals. 

A sizable chunk of seats of para and non-clinical courses in various medical colleges were vacant for the entire session, as those pursuing PG in these courses switch to clinical sections. “The practice led to shortage of teachers of non-clinical sections of medical colleges,” said a senior officer of the health department. 

Citing the practice of bond system in some other states, health department officials here observed that the bond for service facility would help the state improve medical facilities at the district and village levels.

“There are 477 seats for PG courses in six medical colleges, including those located at Patna, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Gaya. However, on an average, 450 students pass the courses every year,” they added. 

About 75% posts of specialised doctors have been vacant at the district and block-level hospitals in the state for the last many years.

Last year, the department had asked the Bihar Public Service Commission to recruit against about 2,700 posts of specialised doctors. But the exercise failed to achieve the purpose of filling up the vacancies, as the BPSC managed to recruit around 600 PG doctors, only.