 bill no  127 of 2009 the indian medical council (amendment) bill, 2009 byshri varun gandhi , mp a billfurther to amend the indian medical council act, 1956be it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1  this act may be called the indian medical council (amendment)  act, 2009102 of 19562 after section 23 of the indian medical council act, 1956, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—5insertion of new section 23a"23a notwithstanding anything contained in this act, no person shall be eligible for enrolling his name in any state medical register as a medical practitioner unless he has served as a medical practitioner in a rural area for a minimum period of one year in such manner as may be prescribed"compulsory practice in rural areas for enrolment in state medical register sstatement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe current system of medical education makes it optional for the students to work in outreach, rural, public or ngo supported hospitals this has resulted in a very low percentage of students actually opting for this exposure leading to a real disconnect between medical knowledge of the students and community health needs the present system only assesses a student for knowledge in basic and clinical sciences and the underlying principlesrural primary health centres (phcs) remain understaffed and underutilized as a result of the acute and growing shortage of qualified health care professionals in the public health sector as a result, patients from rural areas are forced to find medical help in cities which leads to central institutions like aiims becoming over-burdened there is a substantial gap between increasing investments in health and proportionate improvement in access to health carearound 30,000 medical students complete medical education every year a majority of these choose to practice in urban areas, the private sector or abroad in order to ensure a sufficient supply of qualified medical practitioners with the requisite stamina and medical training to serve patients in rural areas and to give medical graduates invaluable experience and a grasp of medical issues at the grassroot level, it becomes imperative to draft the services of medical graduates to work in rural areas at least for one yearhence this bill lok  sabha a billfurther to amend the indian medical council act, 1956(shri varun gandhi, mp)gmgipmrnd—5024ls(s5—08-12-2009