Government has accorded sanction to the implementation of ‘District Residency Program’ (DRP) under which doctors pursuing MD/MS courses shall undergo a compulsory three months’ residential rotation in district hospitals or district health system as a part of the course curriculum.
A senior official informed that the government has accorded sanction to the program which was approved by the Medical Council of India in 2020.
In this connection, the health department has ordered the constitution of UT-level steering committee, designation of divisional-level DRP nodal officers and designation of DRP coordinator (DRPC).
The administrative secretary, Health and Medical Education Department will be the chairman of the Steering Committee. Director SKIMS, Soura, principals of GMC Srinagar and Jammu will be its members.
As per the order, the steering committee shall be responsible for facilitating implementation, oversight and supervision of the DRP in Jammu and Kashmir.
The medical superintendents of District Hospitals implementing the DRP shall be responsible for “orienting the postgraduate residents to the district health system, structure and functioning of the district hospital, planning and supervising the postings and training program”.
Such rotation shall take place in the 3rd or 4th or 5th semester of the postgraduate programme. The rotation shall be termed as DRP and will be implemented with the PG (broad speciality) batch joining in 2020-2021. The postgraduate medical student undergoing training shall be termed as a District Resident.
The main objectives of the DRP would be to expose the postgraduate students to the district health system and involve them in health care services being provided at the district hospital for learning while serving. It will also acquaint them with the planning, implementation, monitoring and assessment of outcomes of the national health programmes at the district level.
The DRP is also aimed to orient the students to promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services being provided by various categories of healthcare professionals under the umbrella of National Health Mission.