Doc's body demands Med Service Cadre

New Delhi: The Federation of Resident Doctors Association India (FORDA) sent a letter to the Prime Minister's office on Sunday demanding the establishment of an Indian Medical Service Cadre which will help the healthcare fraternity of the nation improve from the grassroots level.

Presently, IAS officers are in the helm of looking after health issues of every district. However, doctors claim that IAS officials lack proper medical knowledge which often gives rise to various problems. Constituting a separate medical service cadre is a need of the hour.

A copy of the letter which was later uploaded on FORDA's official twitter handle stated that "The demand of a separate cadre for Health Services in India in line with the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), etc, is a long pending one." The need for setting up INS Cadre has been discussed heavily in recent years but didn't yield any concrete outcome.

The letter also highlighted that since health is a state subject, the Health Survey and Planning Committee ahad endorsed the formation of a Central Health Cadre in 1961 for creating a coordinated course of action in which the Centre and State will cooperate for speedy results in healthcare sector followed by a draft by the Central Council of Health in 1966 for setting up the All India Medical and Health Service Cadre but even after 6 decades the work is still in the pipeline.

As most of the doctors across the country having to quarantine due to contracting Covid and others having to cover for the shortage by doing multiple shifts, the demand for creating an IMS Cadre has gained traction in recent days because the medical fraternity believes that an IMS Cadre is the only way that can carry out significant changes needed in the already stressed Indian Healthcare System.