CHENNAI: The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine instructed district health officers on Sunday to refrain from holding any meetings, including review meetings, outside office hours, which was one of the long-standing demands of government doctors.
The instructions come after Health Department Additional Chief Secretary Supriya Sahu assured that the demands of the doctors would be met, during discussions with various government doctors’ associations on Thursday. The doctors demanded the state fill all vacancies in government hospitals, and that doctors and health workers be treated with respect and dignity. Following the assurance, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) called off their boycott protest on Friday.
On Sunday, Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr T S Selvavinayagam said any meeting, including review meetings held in person and through video conferencing at the district health area level (except for extraordinary cases, such as epidemic prevention and health emergencies), should not be held outside office hours or on holidays. He advised officials concerned to ensure all government employees are treated with civility and dignity during the review meetings.
Further, Selvavinayagam instructed officials to ensure safety at primary health centres and sub-health centres, and stressed registering attendance through the face recognition attendance system (FRAS 2.0 app).
He added that transparency is maintained in all matters, including recruitment, promotion, and transfer of employees. Since 2021, around 14,000 employees have been transferred and nearly 7,000 have been promoted through this department through open consultation.
The DPH said steps will be taken to fill the 2,553 assistant doctors posts through the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) and a notification in this regard has been issued. Steps are also taken to fill 2,250 posts of village health nurses (VHNs) and 1,060 health inspectors, despite certain legal obstacles, he said, and assured that efforts are being made to expedite legal proceedings and fill the vacant posts as soon as possible.
“It is requested that no government employee of this department should act in a manner that would tarnish the department’s reputation, bring disrepute to the government,” he added.
2K posts to be filled soon
Director of Public Health Dr T S Selvavinayagam said steps will be taken to fill 2,553 assistant doctors posts through the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) and a notification in this regard has been issued