Should new doctors be required to serve in rural or public hospitals?

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Requiring newly qualified doctors to serve in rural or public hospitals is common in countries where medical care has concentrated in a few wealthy cities. I largely agree with the requirement, although its fairness depends entirely on the conditions attached to it. The argument for compulsion is practical. Medical education is heavily subsidised almost everywhere, so a graduate finishes training carrying a debt to the public that paid for it. Rural populations, meanwhile, face shortages that no market has ever solved on its own, because young doctors reasonably prefer cities with colleagues, equipment and schools for their children. Compulsory service is one of the few policies that has measurably moved doctors into underserved districts, and a proportion of them remain after their term ends. The objections carry weight. Sending an inexperienced doctor alone to a clinic with no supervision, no reliable electricity and no equipment helps nobody and can endanger patients. Compulsion also falls hardest on graduates from poorer families, who cannot easily absorb a delay to their earnings. Those objections argue for better design rather than abolition. A defensible scheme pays properly, guarantees supervision and supplies, counts the years towards specialist training, and offers an alternative posting in an underserved urban hospital for those with caring responsibilities at home. In conclusion, I support the requirement. A country that funds a doctor's training may reasonably ask for a few years in return, but the obligation runs in both directions, and the state owes those doctors a post where good medicine is actually possible.