Practice or pay up: Medical students to submit Rs3 million surety bond

They have to serve in the health sector for a year or pay the amount


Our Correspondent August 13, 2015
PHOTO: NNI

LAHORE: Medical students will now have to furnish a surety bond for Rs3 million at the time of admission as an undertaking that they will serve in the primary healthcare sector for at least a year, Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said on Thursday.

He said the chief minister had approved the new policy and it would it be implemented this year in public medical schools across the province.

He said the idea was to strengthen the primary healthcare sector. “If a student violates the bond, they would have to pay Rs3 million to the government.”

Rafique said the government spends at least Rs3 million on the education and training of a medical student over five years. “However, after they graduate, many MBBS students, women in particular, quit the profession.”

He said because of that the exchequer suffered a heavy loss and the government remained unable to overcome the shortage of doctors in public hospitals.

He said the annual fee for a student at a public medical college was Rs18,000. The new policy will ensure that no one abuses the privilege, he said.

“The government is looking to overcome the problem of shortage of doctors and to provide the best possible health facilities to the poor…this policy will go a long way in ensuring that.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14th, 2015.

COMMENTS (14)

H-Man | 8 years ago | Reply Deplorable working conditions, bleak future, lack of respect and now the scepter of 30 lac hanging on my head. I would definitely want to study medicine in Punjab! A few months ago there was a viral video of a PMLN MPA slapping a doctor at a district hospital because he was observing a patient and didn't stand up to kiss the badmash's backside. Punjab govt just wants more doctors to slap around. Especially women, who exercise their right to earn knowledge and the freedom of choice to get married and stay home after graduation.
Banging head against the wall | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistanis celebrating this move, clearly have no idea about the kind of condition government hospitals provide to its house officers. This only makes sense if you improve the conditions those poor souls work in, This is going to do two things, first its going to discourage people from becoming doctors, secondly, its going to demoralize the existing ones. A demoralized workforce is obviously going to give shoddy results. The Government needs to kindly show how exactly does it spend 3 million on a student? Is it comparing its fees to a private medical college? If a private medical college was asking for 2.5 million for a five year fees, and making profits, how on earth are they spending 3 million on a student? Stop corruption within the health department, improve the conditions of doctors, put in place this condition after that. But that would be asking too much.
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