Cabinet approves B.Sc. Community Health course in State universities

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the government’s plan for the creation of a specialised cadre of health care workers for rural areas by instituting a three-year-course in State universities.

The Bachelor of Science (Community Health) course will create a cadre of Community Health Officers who will be posted at sub-centres, functioning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, where they can provide basic health care.

The course will start from the next academic year.

Being planned for the past several years, the proposal had been opposed stiffly by doctors on the grounds that it will create two tiers of medical professionals, and by the Parliamentary Standing Committee which recommended mandatory posting of doctors in rural areas instead...more