CHENNAI: The Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE) has urged the health department to reduce the bond service period for non-service postgraduate and super speciality doctors who enrolled in 2021 and 2022 to one year from the current two.
Addressing media persons on Monday, DASE general secretary Dr GR Ravindranath said the government had already cut the bond period to one year for the 2023-24 batch because of a lack of vacancies.
The union government had also issued a notification saying the mandatory service period could be reduced to one year in the coming years, depending on the demand for doctors in government hospitals, he added.
Mentioning the doctors being issued their original course certificates only upon completion of the bond period, Dr Ravindranath said those who joined the course in 2021 should have been released from the bond.
He also said the Madras HC had ruled that when women doctors on compulsory service take maternity leave, the period should be counted as service. The government should follow the ruling, he added.
The association also condemned a recent circular from the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine directing its staff not to criticise the government. A circular prohibiting criticism and the expression of opinions is anti-democratic, it said, demanding its immediate withdrawal.