| The author acknowledges the shortage of medical personnel in rural areas of India and wonders whether vested interests, bureaucracy, or mishandling by "armchair experts" perpetuates the problem. He comments that the Government of India has repeatedly refused to adopt proposals from the Indian Medical Association and then outlines another programme to alleviate the shortage. The first phase would incorporate registered local practitioners into rural health centres part-time; offer practitioners who are willing to settle in rural areas subsidies for 5-7 years or easy-payment loans through nationalized banks; assure young doctors in service of early promotion, extra increments, and other incentives for practice in rural areas; mobilize medical units; and properly staff, equip, and supply existing health centres. The second phase would concentrate on establishing medical training in rural areas, but the author recommends that, in the mean time, spaces be allotted in existing medical colleges for students from rural areas, and that social workers be employed to make medical students aware of the plight suffered by rural populations. |