NEW DELHI: In a bid to prevent medical students who go to the US for higher studies from settling down there, the health ministry has suspended issuing ‘no obligation to return’ certificates that allow them to do so.

In the past three years, 3,000 medical students have gone abroad and stayed there. India has one doctor per 2,000 people; the US has one for 469.

The ‘no obligation to return to India’ (NORI) certificate is mandatory for Indian doctors who have completed up to nine years of medical education to settle in the US. Ironically, before they head there, the US requires the health ministry (of all developing countries) to issue a “statement of need” certificate, stating “the student is being allowed to go and study medicine in the US because he is required to return and serve India”.

Joint secretary in the health ministry S K Rao said only 30% of those who go to the US return to work. “This year, we haven’t issued a single NORI certificate,” he said.

Guidelines for medical study abroad by 2013

In a bid to tackle brain drain in the medical profession, the government, for the first time, is drawing up guidelines for medical students going to the US for studies. The guidelines, expected by January 2013, will also apply to students who have gone to the US this year.

“We have sent the guidelines to the law ministry for their comments. It will specify the conditions for medical students to leave India and go to the US for higher education,” joint secretary in the health ministry S K Rao said. “We have no problem with students going to the US to study. But the US wants us to first issue a certificate saying we are allowing the student to go and study there because he or she is needed in India and then issue another mandatory certificate nine years later saying he isn’t needed in India so that he can settled down there,” added Rao, who handles international health.

To bring more doctors into the workforce, the Cabinet recently cleared the National Council of Human Resources in Health Bill that allows doctors who hold the Overseas Citizens of India card to work in India. The bill also allows NRI doctors to return to India and join medical colleges as faculty. India has a density of 0.5 doctors per 1,000 people. The Medical Council of India intends to reduce the gap to one doctor for 1,000 population by 2031. The Planning Commission says the country is short of 6 lakh doctors, 10 lakh nurses and 2 lakh dental surgeons.

