By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 5: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Tuesday said all the state-sponsored doctors of Meghalaya will now have to register with the State Medical Council (SMC).
Stating that the sponsored doctors were registering outside the state earlier, she said mandatory registration with the SMC would help the department keep tabs on the MBBS students.
“Right now, any doctor clearing the MBBS course goes to another state for the procurement of a licence. This will now be done by our own medical council,” she said.
On a few doctors forfeiting the sponsorship and not coming back to practice in the state, she said they would have to repay the bond. A bond repayment slab was recommended by the previous cabinets, she added.
“The government of India has a recommended bond, and I am told it was revised to Rs 30 lakh for an MBBP and Rs 1 crore for a specialist a few years ago. Our own SMC will review these matters,” Lyngdoh said.
She said the department has already taken some preliminary actions and would be stringent henceforth.
“Recently, many doctors registered and joined the state. Several of them qualified through NEET to go for post-graduation,” she said, adding that she would have to verify the cut-off date for registering with the SMC.
