Candidates of super-speciality courses skip counselling

Violation of two-year service bond executed with State continues

Many candidates, who belonged to other States and completed super-speciality medical courses (DM/M.Ch) at government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu in 2020, did not attend the counselling held for posting at July-end. While this was not the first time that non-service other State candidates have violated the two-year service bond executed with the State government, a cross-section of government doctors feels this will have an impact on the healthcare system in the long run. Official sources said more than half of the candidates of the batch did not attend the online counselling, while a few candidates who attended the counselling said at least 80% of the other State candidates of the 2017 batch skipped the process. An official of the Health Department said, “More than 50% of the candidates in super-speciality batches are from other States. They must work for two years as per the bond for ₹40 lakh executed at the time of admission. Some doctors finish the course and leave. They join work in their States and approach the court saying they did not get postings or departments as soon as they finished the course. According to the rules, they have to work in a government set-up anywhere in Tamil Nadu. In such circumstances, we will have to take action under the Revenue Recovery Act for bond violation,” he said.