In a move aimed to ensure  trained health human resources across the districts, postgraduate (PG) medical students, from both private and Government medical colleges, will have to compulsorily serve in a designated district hospital (100 bedded or more) for three months.

Besides meeting the human resource shortage at the district level, the measure would also help expose the future physicians/specialists of wide-ranging clinical material and enables them to learn care of such patients in ecosystems with varied resources and teams.

Paving way for such move, the Board of Governors at the Medical Council of India (MCI) has launched a District Residency Program from the current academic session 2020 and a gazette notification has been issued in this regard. Such rotation shall take place in the 3rd or 4th or 5th semester of the Postgraduate program and postgraduate medical students undergoing training shall be termed as a ‘District Resident’.

The Programme will be implemented with the PG (broad specialty) batch joining in 2020, stated gazette notification, which also laid down the details of the program. Following the amendment of the Post-graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, a new clause has been added to incorporate the District Residency Programme.

The programme is for all PG medical students in government and private medical colleges including those affiliated to deemed universities and students who fail to complete the course will not be allowed to take their final exams.

District hospitals represent the backbone of the country’s secondary-level health care providing specialty treatment. These hospitals are closer to people and an overwhelming source of services in rural and urban areas.

The student will be drawing full stipend/salary from their medical colleges during this duration and would also be getting a certificate at the end of their training.