Rural Health Care Course

Rural Health Care Course

The Government, in consultation with Medical Council of India (MCI), has prepared a course namely, Bachelor of Science (Community Health) which was earlier named as Bachelor of Rural Health Care (BRHC) course. The main objective of the proposed course is to create mid-level health professionals who will be primarily be deployed at Sub Centres and would possess the necessary public health and ambulatory care competencies to serve the rural population. The salient features of the proposed course are as under:

1. The duration of the course will be three years with six months of rotational internship,
2. The candidates eligible for the course will be those who have completed 10 +2 with science subjects i.e. Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
3. Admission as well as deployment will be district based as far as possible.
4. Reservations would apply as per norms.
5. After acquiring this degree, the graduates will be employed as Community Health Officers (CHOs) by State Government.

A task force has been constituted to frame norms for requirement of physical infrastructure, facilities required in Rural Health Schools and examine aspects regarding introduction of the course. Further, the matter is also being examined by the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare. The proposed course is likely to be introduced in the states willing to adopt it from the academic 2013-2014.

A few medical associations like Indian Medical Association (IMA) have not welcomed the proposal. Nonetheless, in order to address the serious concern of shortage of availability of human resources in health sector in rural areas, the Government is committed to introduce the course, with inbuilt safeguards.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today on 23.11.12.