CHO ( community health officer) - A whole new health community starts here.

The Assam government has tabled a bill in the Assembly to make
the status of rural health practitioners
equivalent to that of BSc (community health)
graduates in order to enable them to serve as
paramedical personnel.
The fate of rural health practitioners was
uncertain after Gauhati High Court de-
recognised their diploma in October 2014.
Health and family welfare minister Nazrul
Islam introduced the bill, titled The Assam
Community Health
Professionals' (Registration and Competency)
Bill, 2015, in the Assembly today.
The bill seeks to give the same status to the
students who have completed the diploma in
medicine and rural healthcare (DMRHC)
course in the Medical Institute in Jorhat with
that of BSc (community health) course.
The Assam government constituted the
Assam Rural Health Regulatory Authority
(ARHRA) and introduced the three-year
diploma in medicine and rural healthcare
(DMRHC) in 2005 under the provision of the
Assam Rural Health Regulatory Authority Act,
2004, for creation of a set of health
professionals to improve services in rural
areas.
The students, after completing the three-year
diploma course, had to undergo six months'
internship and then they were registered as
rural health practitioners (RHP) under
ARHRA.
But the Assam branch of the Indian Medical
Association filed a writ petition in Gauhati
High Court challenging the ARHRA Act, 2004
and the high court struck down the act on
October 30, 2014, describing the act as
unconstitutional.