Doctors to Receive 30 percent Additional Marks for Rural Service

As an incentive to doctors serving in the rural areas, the Supreme Court has awarded them benefits of extra marks in admission to various Post-Graduate Courses. A bench presided by  Chief Justice T S Thakur, stated that an incentive marks of  up to 30% of the total marks would be awarded  to eligible in-service doctors in admission exams for Medical Post-Graduate courses provided that they have served in the Rural areas. The Supreme Court supported the Allahabad High Court order which had quashed the UP Government’s order to provide 30% quota in admission to PG Medical Courses to Government doctors who have served in rural areas. The judgment came in response to a batch of petitions filed against the HC verdict. The bench stated that incentive marks could be awarded to government doctors serving in rural areas to promote health care. Also read: Everything we know about NEET PG 2017 till now States across the nation are not in a condition to facilitate health care facilities in rural areas for want of doctors. The judgment further stated that there is a proposition to make one-year rural service binding for MBBS students who wish to apply for admission to PG courses. This proposal however has been kept on hold. The objective behind the provision of granting incentive marks is to encourage and motivate more graduates to join as Medical Officers in the State Healthcare sector and serve in the remote areas of the State. The judgment stated that merely securing high marks in NEET is not sufficient to determine the academic merit of candidates and the academic merit of the candidate must be in equivalence to the services rendered to the society. The bench added that the doctors having served in rural and difficult areas of the state for one year or above deserve incentives marks for determining the merit. More details on this will be updated soon.