Kashmiri doctors have dreamt of dollars for a long time and over the decades, many graduates from the Srinagar Medical College have immigrated to the United States, Britain and West Asia.

Last 13 years of militancy in the valley have added to the outflow.

"If people get a decent chance to move to a better place for higher education and practice, why should they refuse? Working on bullet-ridden bodies every day takes a toll on doctors and you tend look for an escape route after some time," says Dr Ashfaq Dar, a surgeon at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.

Beyond the immense work pressure, which comes in the wake of increasing medical disorders that Kashmir has witnessed since the eruption of violence, it is the prospect of a peaceful and comfortable life that prompts many Kashmiri doctors to try for higher education and jobs in the West.

"There is a sense of guilt in leaving Kashmir. We understand that we are needed here and it is a wonderful thing to serve our people. But I have been working here for eight years now. I have seen hundreds of surgeries and scores of deaths. I don't think I can take it any more. So I am trying to go away for at least some years," says Dr Fayaz Khan at the SKIMS.

Khan has been writing exams required for getting a job in the US and UK. So are many of his friends.

But the state government is not impressed.

"If the doctors do not want to serve their state, which needs them the most, then they should pay for it. The state spends lakhs of rupees on providing them medical education for five years. All this time, the doctors get free boarding and lodging facilities. When they have a chance to earn in pounds and dollars they want to leave. So the government has decided to bring in as law to make those leaving Kashmir pay for the free training they receive," Minister of State for Health Lal Singh says.

But doctors see it as dictatorial and believe it will effect only those who cannot afford to pay what the government demands. Dr Nisar Ahmad, a post-graduate in anaesthesia from SKIMS, has been selected for a posting in London. He is leaving in a month's time. But the government move has left him frustrated.

He says, "I have worked here for five years in the worst conditions. For a year I forgot everything to prepare for my exams and got selected at last.

"Now the government will be asking for money. Middle-class and lower middle class guys like me cannot afford to pay the costs of education, which would be Rs 5-8 lakh. But can the government stop the rich guys who can pay that money?"