The District Residency Programme has been implemented in Madhya Pradesh from April 1. Under this, it is mandatory for every PG doctor of the Government and private medical colleges of the State to do duty in the district hospital for three months. Only after this they will get the degree.

Under the District Residency Program prescribed by the National Medical Council (NMC), for the first time, students (junior doctors) doing MD-MS in various district hospitals of the state have been posted for three months training. In the first batch, 320 students doing MD-MS have been posted in different district hospitals. All of them are of second year. Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to send students for training under this programme. NMC made it mandatory in the year 2021 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Department officials said that from April to June 2023, the first batch of junior doctors have started serving in various district hospitals. These include 33 in Anaesthesia, 15 in Community Medicine, 15 in ENT, 37 in General Medicine, 35 in General Surgery, 39 in Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 15 in Ophthalmology, 28 in Orthopaedics and 15 in Paediatrics, 21 in Pathology, 20 students of Radiodiagnosis and 10 students of Chest and Respiratory Diseases Department are involved. Their posting will be of great benefit to the patients. Hospitals affiliated to medical colleges, the services of junior doctors will be available in OPD, emergency unit, ward and operation theatre in district hospitals. At the same time, students will get a chance to know and treat different types of diseases. Health Commissioner Dr Sudam Khade said that this District Residency Program will help in providing better health services to the public in the state. People will be able to get more and more specialist doctors in rural areas.