The Union government will soon recognise post graduate degrees in medicine granted in five English speaking countries. The  decision is to woo Indian doctors who have degrees from institutes abroad to return to India.

Degrees from US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will be recognised by the government. This arrangement will initially be unilateral but in time turn into a bilateral recognition,  announced Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 14th Convocation of National Board of Examination on Saturday he said it is a well acknowledged fact that these five countries offer the best education, in time a few more countries will be added to the list as well and India need more specialists, he conveyed.

An MoU will be signed between the Government of India and the Indian Medical Association soon, under which 50,000 more private practitioners will become Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course (DOTS) providers under the Revised National Tuberculosis Programme (RNTP) which is a global fund aided programme said the Health Minister. This PPP model which has 150 corporate hospitals and 250 NGOs involved in the programme as well, will be replicated soon to fight diseases like Malaria and HIV.

In another five months, the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) will be launched in cities with over a lakh population. The programme will be implemented in 429 such cities and district headquarters, added Mr Anbumani Ramadoss.