Maharashtra MBBS Students can no Longer Leave Rural Services by paying fine.

After MBBS degree, there will be no longer have the penalty escape route in Rural Service Bond. All students seeking admission in government medical colleges or government reservation seats in private colleges will have to compulsorily complete their one-year Rural Service Bond, which Maharashtra MBBS Students could skip until now by paying the fine.

Maharashtra’s Medical Education department issued a Government Resolution on Tuesday stating that this decision will be applicable for all those taking admission to MBBS from the academic year 2022-23. This rural service bond, also called the ‘social responsibility service’, will be in addition to the existing 12-month compulsory internship for all MBBS students which is in hospitals attached to their respective medical colleges.

However, after this, different hospitals or health centres from rural areas will be allotted MBBS students for whom mandatory rural service will be applicable.

Maharashtra MBBS students at government and civic run medical colleges have to sign a bond to serve in rural areas of Maharashtra for a year, after obtaining the degree. Students failing to do so have to pay a fine which was Rs 5lakh from academic year 2004-05 to 2007-08 but increased to Rs 10 lakh thereafter.

“The provision of completing MBBS education from government and civic-run institutes, without completing the social responsibility service by paying a penalty, is henceforth being cancelled,” the Government Resolution states.

As explained in the Government Resolution, the government spends a considerable amount of money on students’ education in government and civic-run medical colleges in comparison to which the fees charged at these institutes are very less. This expenditure comes from the tax collected from the public and the rural-service bond is a form of social responsibility for the medical students. “It has been observed that after completing MBBS several students skip the rural-service bond by paying the fine.

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