SHILLONG, MAR 1: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Friday said MBBS students, who have paid the bond, cannot be forced to return and serve in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Lyngdoh said, “Unfortunately, you cannot force a student, who has paid the bond, to return to the state to serve.”
“As of today, signing of the bond is something which has always been reviewed from time to time and it is binding on students to inform the government as to whether or not they are returning and why they are not returning, what they are doing and what the courses that they are undergoing are,” she said.
Lyngdoh said that making the bond more stringent to ensure bonded doctors served in the state can be debated.
“Over the years from what I have been briefed, the bond has been increased, students are paying the bond and in recent years, we have become more stringent in our signing of these undertakings from students but if a student is saying he or she is pursuing a higher education you cannot say you don’t pursue that,” she stated.
“In fact, the government of Meghalaya is contemplating on an idea of proposing to the government a possibility of blocking or buying more medical seats for the people of Meghalaya because if you as a government invest on this likely the numbers of doctors coming back will increase,” she added.
According to Lyngdoh, about 96 seats have been allotted for Meghalaya recently. She said there was a recent delay in releasing the scholarship of MBBS students but this was also resolved.