Mumbai: Maharashtra has become the first state to abolish the mandatory one-year ‘social responsibility’ service required of MBBS graduates from government, municipal, aided, and private unaided medical colleges. It has, however, not been cancelled for postgraduate and superspeciality levels.Known simply as bond service, the policy was founded on a bargain: the state financed a medical education, and the young doctor repaid part of that public investment through a year of service in a government institution, local body or the armed forces. But the state now feels this policy designed to place doctors in underserved institutions has become a waiting room for doctors whose careers could not move forward.Thousands of graduates find themselves caught between an obligation they are required to fulfil and postings the govt cannot not provide. Some were reluctant to serve; others were ready, but had nowhere to go. For both, the consequences were the same: plans for postgraduate education were delayed by a requirement whose completion depended on the availability of govt jobs.A Government Resolution (GR) issued on Thursday acknowledged that the rapid expansion of medical education had not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in public-sector postings. Eligible candidates were therefore left waiting for allotments, sometimes unable to fulfil the bond despite being willing to serve. Because completion of the service was tied to eligibility for postgraduate medical education, an administrative bottleneck became an academic one as well.The govt also pointed to another contradiction. Many newly qualified doctors joined bond postings because the service was a gate they had to pass through before pursuing postgraduate studies. According to the GR, such candidates did not always contribute to their full capacity at their assigned institutions. As recent graduates, they were also not necessarily prepared to “manage emergency medical services” independently.The policy was reviewed at a meeting chaired by the chief minister on July 4, 2025. The Public Health Department subsequently proposed that the Medical Education Department reconsider and ultimately discontinue the one-year service requirement.Under the new decision, candidates who are eligible for bond service but have not received postings will no longer be required to complete it. Those who began their service but were unable to finish will not have to serve the remaining period.Doctors who have already joined their allotted institutions must, however, complete the prescribed tenure. Those who received allotment orders but have not yet joined will be exempted. Candidates currently serving may continue until their tenure ends.No fresh bond postings will be made from the date of the resolution. The online allotment portal operated by the Directorate of Medical Education and Research will be closed immediately. Candidates who previously paid the prescribed penalty to secure exemption from bond service will not receive refunds, the state said.Parent representative Sudha Shenoy said, “This decision comes with mixed feeling. While this is a big relief for students whose journey as a medical student is a long one. I wonder if this will lead to shortage of doctors in govt hospitals and whether this is an attempt towards promoting privatisation of health services.”The 2006 bond policy* “The objective of the 2006 bond policy for the graduates from Maharashtra’s government colleges was to make doctors available in the rural areas. However, the number of MBBS seats has tripled (4,555 in 2006 to 11,795 in 2025) in the interim period. Besides, the government’s policy to have one medical college in each district has resulted in sufficient doctors. Hence, the vacancies for medical officers have reduced,” read the minutes of the meeting held on July 4, 2025.* Interestingly, the introduction of rural bond was seeded in the tough times faced during the India-Pakistan war. When soldiers were dying on the border, there weren’t as many doctors to handle the patient inflow.* As former head of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research Dr Pravin Shingare recalled, Pune’s AFMC (Armed Forces Medical College) had turned to Maharashtra for doctors. “Not many stepped up then to serve in the border. So, the rural service was a national call and was introduced in the aftermath of the war. Maharashtra was the first state to implement it,” said Dr Shingare.* Like then, this time, the Covid pandemic saw the state grappling for doctors in rural pockets. “What will happen if such a situation arises again?” asked a DMER official.
