Locals to be given preference in BRMS: Govt -Governance Now

Locals to be given preference in BRMS: Govt

Lok Sabha debates the 'rural MBBS' scheme

PTI | March 5, 2010

Local students would be given preference in a medical course aimed at training doctors for postings in rural areas, the government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi said the Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) course was a revolutionary step to ensure proper healthcare in villages.

While NDA convenor and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav expressed support for the scheme, several members of the opposition and even the treasury benches voiced their reservation contending that it would lead to prevalence of "half-baked" medical professionals across the country.

Those who obtain the BRMS degree, also called as rural MBBS, will get a licence to practice only in notified rural areas. They cannot travel to cities for work or go for higher education. Only students from rural areas will be allowed admission.

P C Chacko (Congress) contended that the BRMS programme would produce "half-baked" doctors and even the Medical Council of India (MCI) had opposed the scheme. Ratna De (Trinamool Congress) also questioned BRMS.

As members were not satisfied, Speaker Meira Kumar asked them to give a notice for a short duration discussion to deliberate on the issue in detail. .

Trivedi said all the chief ministers and various experts had welcomed the initiative that would lead to weeding out of quacks operating in rural and urban areas.

He said the government plans to have 1.47 lakh such rural doctors who would work in healthcare sub-centres at the district and village levels.

The objectives are to provide trained persons in rural areas to provide treatment for ailments, early diagnosis, stabilisation and referral and promoting public health activities, Trivedi said.

In reply to a separate question, the minister said the sex ratio in the country had increased to 933 females per 1,000 males during the 2001 census. This was 927 in the 1991 census.

Female foeticide is a serious issue and stringent action should be taken against those indulging in it, the Speaker observed.

Comments

Other News

Maharashtra adopts hybrid model for Census 2026 data collection

The government has initiated preparations for Census 2026 in Maharashtra, introducing a hybrid approach that combines optional self-enumeration with comprehensive door-to-door data collection to ensure complete coverage across the state. According to senior officials, the Self-

What the nine Indian Nobel winners have in common

A Touch Of Genius: The Wisdom of India’s Nobel Laureates Edited by Rudrangshu Mukherjee Aleph Books, Rs 1499, 848 pages

Income Tax dept holds Ghatkopar Outreach on new IT Act

The Income Tax Department organised an outreach programme in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, to raise awareness about the key features of the Income Tax Act, 2025, effective April 1, 2026. The initiative is part of a nationwide effort to promote taxpayer awareness, simplify compliance, and strengthen a transparent, eff

Making AI work where governance is closest to people

India’s next governance leap may not solely come from digitisation. It will come from making public systems more intelligent, more adaptive, and more responsive to the dynamics at the grassroots. That opportunity is especially significant at the panchayat level, where governance is not an abstract po

Borrowing troubles: How small loans are quietly trapping youth

A silent crisis is playing out in the pocket of young India, not in stock markets or government treasuries, but in smartphones of college students and first-jobbers who clicked on the Apply Now button without reading the small print. A decade ago, to take a loan, you had to do some paperwor