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ABSTRACT
Medical officers are the backbone of medical services in our country and bulk of medico-legal work is done by them who are just medical graduates with no formal training in medico-legal work. The compulsory one year rural Govt. Service has created large turnover of new doctors that created large many issues related to medico-legal problems. Government is falling short of capacity for training a new recruited doctors every yearly. They have to perform medico-legal duty independently right from first day of appointment with no proper help and guidance from senior or expert This not only is most stressful situation for medical officers but also hampers the dispensing of justice. Curriculum of undergraduates too is not enough to give proper insight for medico-legal work in field. There is urgent necessity to for induction training of medical officer with special emphasis on medico-legal duties, regular CME's on medico-legal matters and regular recruitment of medical officer by service commission.
Keywords: Medico-Legal Work, Induction Training, Forensic Experts, Medical Officers, Maharashtra.
INTRODUCTION
Maharashtra is second populous state in India having 11.23 Million population1, 35 district, with 23 district hospitals, 365 rural hospital and 1816 primary health centres, 5075 Maharashtra Medical & Health Services (MMHS) class II, 1177 MMHS class I officers2, Govt, of Maharashtra has implemented compulsory bonded candidates policy, since 1999, Maharashtra has 14 Govt, and municipal medical colleges of annual turnover of approx 3000 seats.3 Medical officers are backbone of medical services in our country and are found to be much more important in bringing up the quality of medico-legal service. Medico-legal cases are integral part of medical practices that is frequently encountered by medical officers and perceived to be most difficult and stressful one. It is to be noted that in India, unlike in developed countries, the bulk of medico- legal work is done by government medical officers who do not have a post-graduate qualification in forensic medicine. It is thus all the more necessary to train undergraduates in a more...