Kamal Ghorui
Bengaluru: As many as 208 MBBS students who did not register for the one-year compulsory rural service in Karnataka have received notices from the govt and they are facing Rs 15 lakh each in penalty.According to the Jan 30 notice issued by the health and family welfare department, failure to pay the penalty within 30 days will attract legal action.Stakeholders said that if some students weren’t willingly signing up for rural posting and sitting out, it’s mainly because they prefer to spend the year preparing for NEET-PG for specialisation and gaining additional skills. An MBBS degree, without PG speciality, might be less lucrative, they added.This year, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences sent in a merit list with 8,171 candidates graduating in 2025 for 1,772 vacancies available for the mandatory rural service, the dept said.As per the rules of compulsory rural service, the dept notified vacancies and invited applications. All the vacancies were filled through online counselling. There were 6,119 surplus candidates who were exempted from the compulsory service as per their choice.However, notices were sent to 208 candidates as they failed to log in or select a location during counselling. As per rules, medical students are required to pay a penalty of Rs 15 lakh to the govt if they miss out on the rural service.These 208 students received notice “for failure to fulfil the obligation of serving the one-year compulsory service under the govt”.“Those who have enough money, will pay the fine and focus on NEET PG. Students’ monthly pay for rural stints has been downscaled from Rs 75,000 to Rs 60,000 now,” said Dr Sirish Shivaramaiah, a senior resident.“Students might feel that it is better to join PG as soon as possible rather than spend a year on rural posting, as the cost of education keeps going up. Many can afford Rs 15 lakh,” said Ali Kwaja, founder director, Banjara Academy.“Students want to spend time preparing for the next entrance as no one wants to stop at basic MBBS. Many do not even attend to patients as they want to spend all their energy to crack the next entrance. It is not surprising that some students are willing to pay instead of opting for rural service,” he added.
