The government is planning to reserve 50 per cent of postgraduate seats in its medical colleges for MBBS doctors who have completed at least three years of service in state-run hospitals either on a regular basis or on contract basis.

Presenting the fact sheet of achievements for the 2011-12 fiscal and the action plan for the current financial year in the state capital on Tuesday, principal secretary (health) Amarjeet Sinha said the idea was to encourage doctors to work in the government sector.

“We are at present seeking legal opinions on the matter and will prepare a formal draft soon. Besides, we want to introduce a law in the state, making it mandatory for private medical colleges to grant 50 per cent postgraduate seats to students nominated by the government,” he added.

Sinha added that the state government supported a new policy of the Centre to ask doctors going to the US for higher education to sign a bond with the Indian government before leaving and honour the deal by returning after finishing studies.

On Monday, Union health minister Gulam Nabi Azad announced in New Delhi that from this year, any student going to the US for further education would have to sign a bond that he or she would return to India after finishing studies.

Emphasising that the government was keen to strengthen nursing services, Sinha said the health department would start skill enhancement training programmes for auxiliary nurse-cum-midwives and general nurse-cum-midwives in eight districts from May 15. For this, the government would get support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Christian Medical College, Vellore.

Highlighting the department’s achievements, Sinha said Bihar had utilised 85.5 per cent of funds received from the Centre last year as part of the National Rural Health Mission.

State health society executive director Sanjay Kumar said the state was on the verge of eliminating leprosy as the number of patients had come down to 0.89 per 10,000 people.

Sharing the state’s plan of action for the prevention, control and management of outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and Japanese encephalitis in Gaya and Muzaffarpur, Kumar said extensive campaign and training of the health workers would be launched to curb the disease.

Sinha added that Centre had been requested to provide Japanese encephalitis vaccine for mass vaccination in Gaya, but the approval has not yet come.