Is there any political strategy behind move to train RMPs?

​Hyderabad: The doctors fraternity in Telangana has raised several doubts pertaining to the events that unfolded in the last ten-days. Is there any political strategy behind the move to start training and certification programmes for Registered Medical Practitioners/Private Medical Practitioners (RMPs/PMPs) in Telangana?

Why is this initiative taken up all of a sudden in mid-2018 while a GO to this effect was given exactly three-year-ago around the same time besides, a case pertaining to this issue still pending in the High Court?

The doctors’ fraternity in Telangana smelt a rat looking at the way things unfolded in the last ten days. Some doctors said that the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections seem to be the reason. And, government and private doctors’ associations as well as junior doctors are echoing the same sentiment.

According to doctors, the RMPs/PMPs in rural areas have good connect with people in villages because of being in regular touch and medical treatment extended for several years. If the RMP requests the villagers to support a particular candidate, people more or less might oblige. Hence, the mad hurry to reach out to medical practitioners at this juncture.

It may be mentioned here that authorities, without much noise, tried to start training classes for medical practitioners from June 9 in Banswada Area Hospital. However, junior doctors from Nizamabad government college got wind of this and reached the place, held protest forcing the authorities to cancel the programme altogether. 

Two days later, a delegation comprising representatives of Junior Doctors Association, Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA), Telangana Government Doctors Association (TGDA) and Indian Medical Association (IMA)-Telangana unit met Paramedical Board and Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad and expressed their strong opposition to the training programme.

The doctors’ associations question the need to start training classes just few weeks before the GP elections as GO 428 relating to Community Para Medic Training for RMPs/PMPs was issued by the government on June 29, 2015. 

They say the issue was kept in cold storage for almost two-and-half-years and towards fag end of 2017, the HRDA comprising government and private doctors also went to High Court opposing government guidelines for RMPs and also the certification  programme. The RMP associations while welcoming the training programme decision albeit late, were critical on administration for sitting on this issue for nearly three-years and then thinking of them.

“It is known to everyone that RMPs have good contacts with atleast one hundred families (three hundred to four hundred voters) in villages. They want to utilise our influence and win the votes of these villagers. The number of registered and unregistered RMPs/PMPs is roughly in the range of 35,000 to 40,000 in Telangana State," said a member of medical practitioners’ association not wishing to be quoted.

According to sources, the administration is getting requests from legislators in various districts to start these training classes for medical practitioners at the earliest for obvious reasons. As of now Banswada, Karimnagar, Wanaparthy, King Koti and Nalgonda have been identified. Plans are afoot to extend these classes to all 31 districts in the next few weeks.