Bond Policy: IMA Questions Competency Of Policymakers; Writes To Haryana CM

In a letter to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) lodged a strong protest against the Haryana government’s ‘bond policy’. It also questioned the ‘very competency of the policymakers’ in the letter.

The apex medical association also wrote a similar letter to Haryana Health minister Anil Vij regarding the ongoing doctors’ protest against the policy.

Pointing out the ₹40 lakhs that a medical student has to shell out, the IMA said that the entire policy will force young doctors to work for seven long years without any official provision for PG or diploma study in between.

“The policy also overlooks and fails to address the shortage of placement opportunities in the state itself and therefore makes the terms of the bond almost impossible to fulfil,” IMA wrote

“This leads us to believe that the policy is not only framed without any brainstorming with stakeholders but also makes us question the competency of the policymakers who bring in such policies,” the association wrote in a hard-hitting tone.

IMA expresses ‘shock’ about the incident where protesting students were detained by the police at the PGIMS, Rohtak.

IMA asks for a “constructive discourse” to be established at the earliest “to consider the legitimate demands and that the bond system be scrapped or modified to suit the government and the students alike as per a mutual consensus.”

Aspirants at the PGIMS were extended support and solidarity from various doctors’ bodies such as FORDA and FAIMA.

On November 7, FORDA protested against the entire move, where students protesting for the students calling for ‘bond-free Bharat’ were detained by the state police. Water cannons were also used to disperse the young doctors.

The Medical Student Network of Haryana, under the Indian Medical Association, demanded the immediate release of students who were detained for protesting against the state government’s bond policy for MBBS students. They also demand action against those who “wrongfully detained the students” and the “complete withdrawal of the bond policy”.

Experts that The New Indian spoke with, stated that this issue also expressed speculations that this policy will hamper the quality of the doctor, although the quantity will increase.

Introduced in November 2020, the policy stated that MBBS doctors have to pay an amount of ₹40 lakh as a bond to the state government for admission to a government college.

According to the clauses of the bond policy, annually, during admission and readmission, medical students have to pay a sum of ₹10 lakhs for four years, either by their own means or through a government-facilitated loan.

To repay the loan, the doctors have to do duties in hospitals for a specific period of seven years after completion of the MBBS degree, after which the government would repay the loans.

Several protesting MBBS students at the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak were detained for staging a protest against the ‘bond policy’ on Sunday.

One of the protesting students, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “The bond policy should be removed totally and completely. Even after doing our duty for seven years, we won’t get jobs. How will poor students like us pay this hefty amount even via the bank?”