The Assam government had Wednesday appointed nearly 800 doctors in a recruitment drive that is expected to revolutionise the region's rural healthcare sector.

The recruitment campaign has a catch though, as the appointments were made for a one-year period as part of the government legislation that makes it mandatory for all MBBS graduates to serve for a minimum of one year in rural health centres.

'Assam has become the first state in the country to have carried out such a historic recruitment drive by appointing 768 doctors for rural postings in one single day,' state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told IANS after handing over appointment letters to the doctors in Guwahati.

The young doctors would be getting a monthly fixed salary of Rs.25,000, besides free accommodation in their area of posting.