NEW DELHI: Despite the initial enthusiasm ten years ago, the Centre’s proposal to launch an Indian Medical Service cadre on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service is yet to take off.The Health Ministry had set up a cadre review committee to consider the proposal to establish a dedicated central health force made more than five and a half decades ago. However, an RTI reply has revealed that the committee, which was constituted on the issue in 2015, failed to meet after 2019. Despite the committee not meeting to discuss the issue raised several times by the Indian Medical Association, the Centre insisted that “it is still considering the issue.”The RTI filed by Dr Aman Kaushik, an RTI activist who completed his MBBS and is now pursuing NEET-PG, the ministry said, “The matter is under consideration in consultation with all the states/UTs for seeking their views.”To a question about whether the ministry is still considering creating the cadre and how many states have offered their comments after July 2019, the ministry said, “Till date, 12 states/UTs have responded, and as far as the matter regarding supporting/non-supporting the proposal is concerned, it is under consideration.”Kaushik asked when the last committee meeting was held. The answer, he said, was very shocking. “A committee was constituted on the matter in 2015 and no further meeting was held after 2019,” the RTI reply of March 28 by Dr Naveen Aggarwal, Deputy Secretary and First Appellate authority under section 19 (1) of the RTI Act, 2005, said.Kaushik said, “Since 1960, many committees have recommended the creation of this cadre. But nothing has been done so far. The healthcare infrastructure of India is lacking at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.”Such a central cadre existed before Independence. It was abolished in August 1947.“Since independence, IAS has had administrative control of health issues. They might have passed the UPSC exam, but we need someone trained in public healthcare. The question is why doctors don’t prefer to work in rural areas. It is because of the lack of facilities and low salaries,” he said.
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