A three-year medical course with six months of rotational internship will be introduced from 2013.
Despite strong objections from the Indian Medical Association (IMA),Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has decided to go ahead and introduce the Bachelor of Science (Community Health) keeping in mind the nations acute shortage of doctors and specialists.

The new medical course will create mid-level health professionals with candidates eligible to apply being students who have studied physics,chemistry and biology in the high secondary (10+2) level.Azad said on Friday,Admissions as well as deployment will be district based and reservations would apply as norms. According to the minister,after acquiring the degree,the graduates will be employed as Community Health Officers by state governments.

The proposed course is likely to be introduced in the states willing to adopt it from 2013.A few medical associations such as IMA have not welcomed the proposal.Nonetheless,in order to address the serious concern of shortage of availability of human resources in the health sector in rural areas,the government is committed to introduce the course,with in-built safeguards, he said.The Medical Council of India (MCI) recently cleared the introduction of the three-and-a half-year course.

MCI board chairman Dr K K Talwar had said this special cadre of health workers will be trained mainly in district hospitals,then placed in sub-centers or primary health centers (PHCs) and to be taught some module of clinical work.The cadre can diagnose and treat basic medical cases,get involved in immunisation programmes and administer extended first aid.
Health ministry has been pushing for the introduction of this cadre to tackle the menace of doctors unwilling to serve in rural areas.Only 26% of doctors in India live in rural areas,serving 72% of the population.