TamilNadu(TN) has atleast a single Doctor at every Primary Healthcare Centre(PHC), very few states have achieved this. No other state in India has More female Doctors than TN (936 Female Doctors in 1376 PHCs), an important factor for rural institutional delivery[1].
1) How do they get these many doctors in PHCs ? It is through state's own method of admission to MBBS which gave more weight to rural students. These students coming from rural background mostly wanted to go back and work in their towns and villages.
>> Implication of NEET : Mostly rural students may not be able to visit coaching centres ; with less guidance they might be less represented in MBBS admission with NEET filtering. virtually most of the underprivileged students from rural area may lose out to Urban students(with coaching centre facilities).
2) Were the TN Govt able to pay that hefty salary to those PHC doctors ? Actually there was no Big salary paid to these doctors, they were given from 30000INR to 55000INR(which is far lesser salary than what the private sector provides). But these MBBS candidates were happy to serve their people with this salary. For reference, a recruitment Notice from TN Govt at ref link [2].
>> Implication of NEET : When more urban students and well-off students get into MBBS admission, it is difficult to expect them to serve a long term in rural regions. Which will dilute the existing stability of TN rural health infrastructure in a decade or two.
"Karnataka, a state with highest number of Medical colleges in India" is struggling to get doctors to its district hospitals. Read reference link [3]
3) TN Govt gave incentive marks to "every year's rural service" of a candidate while applying for
Post Graduate (PG) admission.
>> Implication of NEET : This procedure will be lost by NEET now. And expect less rural service takers post MBBS graduation. They goto study NEET-PG instead of serving in rural areas.
With these Implications, the ~48% urbanized TN state will face serious implications. When the 'common'(NEET) is not so common, Not only the social justice enshrined in the Preamble of Indian Constitution is in question , the future of TN rural health infrastructure as well.
Ref :
(1) http://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/RHS_1.pdf
(2) http://www.mrb.tn.gov.in/pdf/12_MRB_Assistant_Surgon_Detailed_Notification.pdf
(3) http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/no-takers-for-rs-1-25-lakh-salaries-karnataka-moves-to-online-bidding-for-doctors/story-dzfQEV4GEi03sIzuBJESxJ.html
