SHILLONG, APR 29: Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla on Wednesday said the government is considering revising the MBBS bond policy to make doctors return and serve in Meghalaya, citing a severe shortage of medical personnel in rural areas despite the state spending more than double the national average per capita on health.

Speaking to reporters, Shylla said health gets unmatched priority in the state’s finances.

“Right now if you see the kind of effort, the kind of initiative and the kind of support which the government is giving and if you see for that matter, Meghalaya is giving 8 percent of the total budget allocation to health department, which is the highest in the country right now,” he told reporters.

Per-person spending, too, is significantly higher than the national figure.

“The annual spending for each person in India on an average is Rs 3500 but in Meghalaya, we are spending more than Rs 7,000 for each person,” he said.

He cautioned that funding alone isn’t enough. “That shows the kind of priority we are giving and the kind of push we are giving but no doubt just giving money is not enough as we need to have a vision, we need to have a plan and as you all know, health department is a very vast department.”

The minister said medical education is expanding, with Shillong Medical College admitting its first MBBS batch this year. “As of now, you could see that specially this year, we could start the first batch of the doctors in the Shillong Medical College. That means the medical education is growing,” he said.

The government is also upgrading nursing schools. “Now we are trying to convert most of our nursing schools to nursing colleges so that they will get more avenues,” Shylla said.

To plug specialist gaps, doctors are being sent for short courses. “Other than that we are trying to come up with because of the shortage of the specialists in the rural areas, that is why we are sending them for short term courses.”

Shylla said many state-sponsored MBBS students do not return for service, especially in villages. “I have also sat down with the chief minister and our team from the medical education that we are exploring if we could come up with the change in the bond policy also because most of the issues we found out that no doubt every year, we are sending our doctors but most of them don’t come back (to serve in the state) especially when it comes to rural posting,” he said.

The proposed change aims to ensure mandatory service. “That is why, we are trying to come up with a change in the bond policy where our students who are pursuing MBBS after completing their studies, they will come and work in the state.”

The minister listed multiple hurdles facing the sector. “Our efforts like no doubt like I said there are many challenges and there are many issues and side by side there is issue of infrastructure, there is issue of manpower, issue of equipment and other things, there are issues of stigma and there are issues of people not coming and doing the check up on time. So there are many issue,” he said.

On de-addiction facilities, Shylla said some districts have begun work while others are stuck on land.