The centre is planning to start a Bachelor of Rural Health Course to address the shortage of medical manpower in rural areas, according to the Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. A group of 25 students from notified rural areas will be imparted training for a period of three and half years in district hospitals. They will be taught by serving/retired professors. The shortage of trained doctors in rural areas made the ministry to consider training rural youths for medical assistance.
The medical students trained under the course will have to serve mostly in sub-centres and even primary health centres, if the need arises. The health ministry has also approved more than Rs. 400 crore for the manpower development schemes under the National Health Programme. The government has proposed to set up 11 centres of excellence in the field of mental health, clinical psychology, psychiatric social work and psychiatric nursing under the scheme.
The health ministry has allotted an amount of Rs. 30 crore to each of these centers of excellence. The ministry has also been supporting medical colleges and mental hospitals to begin PG courses in mental health specialities. The Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, states that the scheme would generate 1140 mental health professions annually.
