New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday regretted the "policy deficit" in evolving a national consensus on compulsory rural service by medical students, indicating that it may lay down constitutional principles to guide states in framing regulations to ensure doctors serve the country's underserved rural population. A bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said that the issue went beyond the validity of a Karnataka government notification requiring medical graduates to undertake one year of compulsory public service, stressing that the policy would have a bearing on the future of healthcare delivery in India. The court asked the Union government to clarify whether it intended to formulate a national policy and whom it proposed to consult before taking a decision. The bench said it could lay down guiding principles based on the constitutional obligation to protect the right to health, leaving it to states to work out the appropriate regulatory framework in consultation with the relevant medical authorities. "What is suggested is not a mandate. As a matter of principle, are the policy makers and constitutional requirements in sync with that principle that rural service across India for our doctors is a necessary measure or not for betterment of our health and national health? That is the short issue," observed the bench. The court said that the government needed to reflect on the issue at the policy-making level, adding that the constitutional interpretation of the right to health as a fundamental right and the corresponding obligations of the state could provide the basis for examining the need for compulsory rural service. "In times to come, where access to hospitals will virtually be access to hospitals run by private institutions, moving away from catering to the needs of the rural areas," said the bench....