The Medical Council of India (MCI) is considering to shrink the MBBS internship by six months and make one-year rural posting compulsory for the MBBS doctors. The move will extend the duration of the MBBS course to six years instead of the existing five-and-a-half-years.
Sources in the regulatory body revealed that a committee that was formed to look into the proposal of extending the MBBS course to 6.5 years have given an option to reduce the internship by six months and make rural posting compulsory for one year.
“The proposal was today discussed with the Union health secretary among other officials in the ministry and the MCI,” sources said.
Earlier this year, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had approved extending the MBBS course by one year and make rural posting compulsory. However, the proposal received flak from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and doctors. A similar proposal, to increase the duration of the MBBS course and compulsory rural posting, was earlier too mooted by then Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, which also received a stiff resistance from various quarters and could never see the light of the day.
Sources said, the new proposal of reducing the internship looks doable and is more practical. “An increase of six months in the total MBBS course is likely to be accepted by the doctors so this is another option that has been shared,” sources said adding that other logistics like how to deploy this workforce in the rural areas, their perks, housing are still to be worked upon.