Majority of the government doctors have opposed the State Government move to increase their retirement age from 60 to 62 years in order to solve the problem of large scale vacancies in hospitals.
The Orissa Medical Service Association (OMSA) in separate memoranda to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Health Minister Damodar Rout stated that the move will block the promotion opportunities of the doctors.
OMSA president Dr Nirakar Bhatta said at present over 600 doctors are passing out of the three government and private medical colleges in the State while around 100 doctors are retiring from their service every year. But, the State is facing scarcity of doctors as the new doctors prefer to serve in the other States where their salary is much higher than what is paid by Odisha Government. Besides, infrastructure facilities are very poor in the State, Dr Bhatta said.
If the Government will implement time scale of pay at par with the Central Government and provide necessary facilities including quarters, the vacancy problem can be sorted out easily, said Dr Bhatta.
He further said a survey recently conducted by OMSA revealed that around 80 per cent of the existing doctors oppose the move by the Government to increase the retirement age. Hence the proposal should be dropped, he added.
Welcoming the increase of students in SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, Dr Bhatta hoped that the two other government colleges would get their share soon. He, however, argued for establishment of government medical colleges in Baripada and Koraput in the larger interest of people in those areas. Besides, the medical colleges would attract the youths to the medical education.