The Medical Council of India (MCI) has finally cleared introduction of the three-and-a-half-year long medical course. Calling it B.Sc. in Community Health, it will be open to anybody after class 12. MCI Board chairman Dr K K Talwar told a Newspaper that this special cadre of health workers will be trained mainly in district hospitals.

They will be placed in sub-centres or primary health centres and will be taught some module of clinical work. Dr Talwar said they intend to introduce the course from April next year. This cadre will also refer the patients according to their condition to other centres.

Health Secretary P K Pradhan has called a high level meeting on Tuesday to finalize the proposal. The Planning Commission's high level expert group has strongly backed the all new health cadre and said that as a career progression incentive, they should be promoted to the level of public health officers after 10 years of service.

The health ministry has been strongly pushing for the introduction of this cadre, in order to tackle the menace of doctors unwilling to serve in rural areas.

Experts said, the selection of students would be based on merit in the Class 12 examination with physics, chemistry and biology as subjects.