Doctors to Receive Incentives for Postgraduate Courses
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Shimla, Aug 26 – After the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, doctors pursuing postgraduate (PG) courses have received significant relief from the state government. As per the new policy, doctors serving in rural areas will be given incentive points for admission to PG courses. This information was provided to the court by the state government. It was informed to the court that the new policy has received approval from the Cabinet. After certain formalities, the new policy will be presented in the court. Justice Sandeep Sharma has scheduled the hearing of the case for September 5.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Dr. Abhinav Avasthi, explained to the court that medical officers are given incentives for serving in various sectors of the state, and one of those incentives is encouragement to pursue postgraduate studies within the state. This practice has been ongoing for years. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in 2016, the state revised the PG policy in 2017. Under this policy, an incentive system was introduced for service-oriented candidates, and the reservation for in-service candidates was removed. Later, in 2019, this policy was partially amended, benefiting doctors serving in rural areas. However, this amendment was rejected under the 2017 policy. The Supreme Court had ruled against the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association in a case against the Central Government in connection with this matter.
The state government formulated the 2017 policy based on the orders of the Supreme Court. Various states revised their PG policies to implement the Supreme Court’s orders. However, despite the Supreme Court’s decision, Himachal Pradesh continued with the same policy. Under this policy, the state was divided into six zones to allocate incentive points to doctors. Despite the Supreme Court’s orders, the state government continued with the existing policy. After the court’s orders, the government has now selected remote, difficult, and rural areas of Himachal Pradesh as the basis for allocating incentive points for admission to PG courses.