Telangana Doctors' body seeks end to RMP, PMP courses

Hyderabad: The Telangana Government Doctors’ Association and Junior Doctors’ Association have both requested the Telangana government to do away with the certificate course for RMPs and PMPs.

They have also asked the government to cancel a government order issued in 2015, which gave guidelines for treatment in rural areas, which was being misused.

Dr G. Srinivas, senior resident at Osmania General Hospital, explained, “The guidelines issued in 2015 were to give the initial first-aid treatment to those patients who came with mild conditions and then refer them to bigger centres, if necessary. These guidelines are now being misused by RMPs and PPMs. They now call themselves ‘doctors’ and say that these guidelines are for providing ‘prescription medicine.’ This is completely wrong and the government must cancel this order immediately.”

A delegation of doctors met with the health secretary Rajeshwar Tiwari to insist that such medical practices must be stopped at the earliest. Presently, there is a 41 per cent shortage of doctors in community health centres and a 13 per cent shortage in public health centres. Doctors demand that yearly rotation-based appointments, be carried out, so that people in rural areas can be treated effectively.

Doctors don’t want any certificate course, recognition and training to be provided to any RMPs and PMPs, as it will wreak havoc with the health of poor patients, they claim.

The Telangana Government Doctors’ Association have also requested that the government not opt for these measures. This would only create more problems at clinics, as there would not be any proper record/history of medicines and the treatment given.