MP Govt Changes DRP Rules: Housing Allowance Scrapped, Deans to Finalize Postings for Resident Doctors

The Madhya Pradesh Health Department has introduced sweeping, immediate changes to the District Residency Programme (DRP), completely overhauling how postgraduate medical students are deployed across the state. While the new framework aims to streamline patient care and prioritize high-need districts, it has delivered a massive financial blow to junior doctors by abruptly terminating their housing allowances for the duration of the mandatory rural rotation.

The Dean’s Committee and Need-Based Allocations

Previously, DRP postings in Madhya Pradesh were largely finalized at the state level, often utilizing a choice-filling system that allowed resident doctors to indicate their preferred districts. This system has been entirely scrapped.  

Under the newly implemented rules, the power of deployment has been decentralized. A dedicated five-member committee, chaired strictly by the Dean of the respective medical college, will now have the final authority to determine the postings of resident doctors. The allocation will no longer be based on student preference, but strictly on regional healthcare requirements.  

The primary metric for this “need-based” allocation is patient referral volume. District hospitals that frequently refer the highest number of critical or complex patients back to the parent medical college will be given top priority for receiving DRP resident doctors. This ensures that districts with the most strained healthcare infrastructures get immediate specialist reinforcement.

Provisions for Female and PwD Candidates

While the choice-filling system has been removed, the new framework does include humanitarian considerations. The government directive explicitly mandates that the Dean’s committee must make every effort to allocate postings in nearby or easily accessible district hospitals for female resident doctors and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD).

The Financial Blow: HRA Officially Terminated

The most controversial aspect of the new policy, and the primary source of immense frustration among the medical fraternity, is the immediate cessation of financial support for accommodation.

According to the new rules, resident doctors will no longer receive any housing allowance (Awas Bhatta / HRA) during their mandatory three-month DRP rotation. The state will not provide direct financial assistance for rent. Instead, the burden of finding and paying for accommodation now falls entirely on the junior doctors, with the local district administration only required to provide a “list of safe accommodations.”

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The Bottom Line

The Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to scrap the housing allowance for resident doctors during the DRP is a highly regressive move. We expect junior doctors to travel to peripheral district hospitals, manage massive patient loads, and strengthen rural healthcare, but the state refuses to even subsidize their basic accommodation. The shift to a Dean-led, need-based posting system is administratively sound, especially prioritizing hospitals with high referral rates and keeping female and PwD candidates closer to the base college. However, stripping away the HRA from already underpaid and overworked resident doctors—many of whom are already pulling 36-hour shifts—is a massive demoralizer. If the state expects quality specialist healthcare in the districts, it must be willing to provide basic, dignified living facilities for the doctors serving there.

Official Notification : MP Revised DRP guidelines 2026