| In a letter to the Indian Medical Association, an anonymous rural practitioner denounces the lack of clear-cut legislation governing the retirement of practitioners working under the Rural Medical Scheme. This scheme, introduced in 1925, provided a fixed subsidy for independent medical practitioners who would settle in a village and work for a fixed number of hours every morning. The position was nontransferable. As long as their duties were efficiently discharged, they would continue to receive the subsidy. Pay rates for practitioners, assistants, and other trained personnel are quoted, as are various memos varying in their recommendations as to the age at which the practitioner should retire. The author objects to the practitioner being dismissed at age 60 on 3 months notice, "without gratuity, pension, compensation, or consideration", and recommends that rural medical practitioners who produce a physical fitness certificate be permitted to continue. |