Incentivise Rural Postings

The ideas expressed by the Health Minister related to the doctors working in rural settings are worthwhile. It is a common observation here that the healthcare infrastructure in our rural areas is vastly diminished than the urban areas. Though, in the last decade, we have seen a formidable enhancement in the health related infrastructure at district level, but it majorly remains confined to district headquarters. We now have medical colleges and associated hospitals taking a significant load of patients at every district headquarter. But the peripheries, the areas that form the hinterland, are still far from having adequate healthcare facility. Consequently the patients from far and wide travel to the major hospitals in Srinagar, or else the district hospitals.

What compounds the problem in rural areas is the lack of interest on part of health professionals. No one actually wants to work in such conditions, and away from home. Even if, as a matter of compulsion, doctors and other paramedical staff are posted in such far flung areas, they always try to get posted back in some urban healthcare facility. This is a perennial problem.

Add to it an anomaly. Those who are posted in rural areas, by some stroke of calculation, get less salaries than the ones posted in the city. Now this is some archaic rule, informed by the understanding that the living costs in a city are higher than in the villages. This is sheer anachronism.

The idea of the Health Minister that the healthcare professionals posted in rural areas need to be incentivised has a definite merit to it. If a slight improvement is done to the healthcare infrastructure in our rural areas, and the doctors and para medics posted there are given a substantial incentive, it can prove as a game changer. It will not only address the health related issues of the rural population, but will also take a significant load on the tertiary care hospitals off. If a worthwhile digital infrastructure is also put in place, the idea can really work.

But the incentive should not be nominal, neither should it be limited to monetary reward. It should be varied and strong enough to attract the best talent to work in rural settings.