VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has terminated 70 doctors under the Directorate of Secondary Health (DSH), and initiated disciplinary action against 193 others in a massive crackdown on unauthorised absenteeism across the public healthcare system.
Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav was informed of the stern action on Friday during a high-level review with DSH Director Chakradhar Babu and Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Vishnuvardhan.
The 70 Civil Assistant Surgeons—including specialists in Gynaecology, ENT and General Medicine—were terminated under Rule 20 of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1991 for remaining absent without official sanction for over a year, and ignoring official show-cause notices.
DME gives final notice to 39 absentee faculty members
In addition to the immediate dismissals, 154 doctors under the DSH are currently undergoing disciplinary review for unauthorised absence. Officials said doctors seeking to rejoin after show-cause notices face strict penalties, including increment cut, before reinstatement—a process that previously saw 78 medical officers return to active duty.
Meanwhile, the DME issued a final ultimatum to 39 non-responsive teaching faculty members— comprising five professors, four associate professors, and 30 assistant professors—who have been absent without leave for one to two years. The department confirmed that failure to respond to this final notice will lead to permanent termination, following the dismissal of 51 DME doctors in May 2026.
A comprehensive departmental audit across all Head of Department (HOD) offices—including the National Health Mission (Contractual), Family Welfare, AYUSH, Drugs Control Administration, and Dr NTR University of Health Sciences—uncovered a total of 493 chronically absent medical and administrative personnel.