PG medical aspirants feel incentive system unfair

Arvind Santosh, an MBBS graduate practicing at the Madras Medical College, said that if the students are given a choice of selecting the rural area for their mandatory service, they would voluntarily go as they prefer being closer to their hometowns and also, they are aware of the local medical issues faced by the populace.

“There are different incentive percentages and those students going to areas with lesser infrastructure get better incentives. In a way, the Health Department wa nts to cover the lack of infrastructure by giving better incentives but it does not help. With no infrastructure, we don’t learn much and just incentive is not enough,” said Arvind.

Aspirants claimed that for hilly areas, the incentive is set at 10 per cent and for plains, it is 9 per cent of the marks per year. For remote and rural areas, it is 8 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

“But this does not help as those who are employed in urban areas and handle more cases, including complicated ones, don’t get any benefit in score. However, those who are working in rural and hilly areas get good score for doing less work. This does not help in motivating students,” said Guna, another PG medical aspirant.

Director of Medical Education, Edwin Joe said, “The marks are given based on NEET scores and the rural service undertaken. There is presently no other system. We have already discussed and this is the best possible way to encourage students to go to remote areas.”