PG in-service doctors protest against recruitment of non-service peers

Over 100 postgraduate in-service doctors staged a protest in front of the Directorate of Medical Services Office on Monday against the recent recruitment of allegedly non-service doctors through the M

Members of TN Post Graduate Doctors Associations protesting against the recruitment of fresh candidates for government hospitals ignoring their services, at the Directorate of Medical Services Office in Chennai on Monday | P Jawahar

CHENNAI: Over 100 postgraduate in-service doctors staged a protest in front of the Directorate of Medical Services Office on Monday against the recent recruitment of allegedly non-service doctors through the Medical Recruitment Board (MRB).

State recently recruited over 500 candidates through MRB and posted them in various medical college hospitals. The protesters claimed there would be no vacancy in medical colleges hospitals by the time they finish their PG courses in another three months.

“We always did government service, but now the government ignored us and directly posted non-service doctors in medical colleges hospitals. This would mean no vacancies would be left for us in medical colleges by the time we complete our PG. We would be again pushed back to district or taluk hospitals in rural areas,” said Dr K Elavazhagan, one of the protesters.

Till two years ago, the government would wait for the PG service doctors to finish their course and conduct PG counselling through the Directorate of Medical Education (DME). Now, the doctors are recruited through MRB by walk-in interview, the doctors said.

Another PG doctor on condition of anonymity said that they can’t even go to private hospitals as they have entered into a bond with the government, saying they will do government service till superannuation. “It’s like government taking advantage of it,” he added.

Speaking to Express, Director of Medical Education Dr A Edwin Joe said, “we recruited the candidates since there was need for doctors in all medical colleges hospitals as we had to meet the Medical Council of India norms. The doctors will be posted wherever there is necessity,” he added.

The protesters demanded that the temporarily appointed MRB candidates’ posts be shown as vacancies during counselling for in-service PGs. The discrepancy in taking superannuation bond between service doctors and MRB-recruited doctors should be set right. The doctors also filed a case in the Madras High Court. They also met health secretary J Radhakrishnan and Edwin Joe and gave written representations.