DEHRADUN: Nearly 30 per cent doctors appointed by the Uttarakhand government since the Covid-19 outbreak have refused to join service, forcing the state to choose from the waiting list.
Of the 403 doctors appointed by the state government for its hospitals between March 2020 till June this year, 117 did not join, citing reasons likes getting better options in metro cities and being posted to remote hill districts.
“Efforts are on to fill the vacant positions,” said Amit Negi, state health secretary.
At present, 1,147 positions of doctors are lying vacant across the state out of which 654 are of specialists.
Health department officials said many doctors may leave after the recruitment exams for specialists, to be conducted on September 11.
“Many of these doctors will appear for these exams and those working on contractual positions will prefer to leave to join as specialists,” said an official.
There is a dire shortage of specialist medical professionals, besides a huge imbalance in distribution of specialists in the districts.