On leave for up to 7 years, 267 government doctors may get fired
CHENNAI: The State Health Department is planning to terminate the services of doctors on unauthorised leave from government service. “We have identified 267 doctors who are on unauthorised leave, for as long as three months to seven years,” says Director of Medical Education Dr. A Edwin Joe. “We will be sending them show cause notices. If they fail to respond, we will terminate their service and fill those vacancies.”
As per government rules, all service doctors must execute a bond for a sum of `20 lakh for admission to PG diploma courses and `40 lakh for PG degree courses, apart from submitting signatures of three sureties, of which one is a parent or spouse, and giving an undertaking that they will serve the government till superannuation. Many doctors, however, disappear without informing the government as they do not want to pay the penalty amount.
“There are many doctors who even go and practice abroad. So far the government has not taken any action. If it had taken timely action and filled up all vacancies, poor people going to government hospitals wouldn’t suffer,” says a service doctor on the condition of anonymity.
Edwin Joe said: “Earlier also, we sent notices to the doctors. But it was a slow process. However, this time, we will speed up the process and take action for sure. We are also thinking about constituting a separate committee for this process.” Last week the Madras High Court asked the government to constitute a monitoring committee to supervise the attendance of doctors.
Short of specialists
“There is a shortage of doctors at super-speciality and speciality levels. Govt should address the issue,” says Dr G Ravindranath, General Secretary of Doctors’ Association for Social Equality