Rajasthan: 1141 Difficult, remote areas notified for in-service doctors

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court was informed by the state government on Wednesday that 1,141 Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the rural parts of the state have been notified as ‘remote and difficult areas’. The in-service doctors who have worked in these centres for a year would not be entitled to bonus marks for postgraduate admissions.

The Government had been directed by the Apex court to identify the ‘remote and difficult’ areas and inform them before February 28. However, the authorities had failed to comply. The government spoke of the notification in the court in response to a petition filed by some non-service doctors challenging reservation granted to in-service doctors without notification of remote and difficult areas by non-service doctors.

The state notification also included doctors who have worked in rural areas for a year till April 30, 2018; declaring them eligible for bonus marks. This granting of eligibility for bonus marks was challenged by Ajeet Bagra, a non-service doctor in a high court petition to come up for hearing on Thursday, said Purvi Mathur, the petitioner’s counsel.

The April 7, 2017, order of the Rajasthan High Court mandated the state government to grant bonus marks to the in-service doctors serving in remote and difficult areas under Regulation 9(IV) of the Medical Council of India 2000. However, the remote and difficult areas were not notified. This led to the order being challenged in the apex court, reports TOI.

The apex court order further stated that the bonus marks to in-service doctors under Regulation 9(IV)could not be granted without identification of remote and difficult area and their notification by the notified state government for all beneficial schemes.