CUTTACK: Nearly 2,000 doctor positions in the State are vacant, the State government has admitted in the Orissa High Court.
In an affidavit, Additional Chief Secretary of Health & Family Welfare department Raj Kumar Sharma has stated that against the total sanctioned strength of 8,729 medical officers in the Odisha Medical and Health Services cadre, 6,744 regular medical officers are in position and the vacancy stands at 1,985.
Taking note of the affidavit, the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray has fixed November 17 for hearing the PIL filed by lawyer Chittaranjan Mohanty.
He had sought judicial intervention for filling up the sanctioned posts in the government medical college hospitals, district headquarter hospitals (DHHs) and other periphery hospitals.
Most of the DHHs are running without adequate numbers of specialist doctors, the petition pointed out. The bench has directed the petitioner to file a rejoinder to the affidavit by then.
In the affidavit, Sharma said, “For providing proper healthcare against the 1,985 vacancies, 699 medical officers have been engaged on ad hoc and contractual basis and for a temporary period under various schemes.”
He added that of the 1,985 vacant posts, 1,586 are backlog vacancies meant for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates. These positions have remained unfilled even after three regular recruitments due to non-availability of candidates in the SC and ST categories.
The petitioner also mentioned vacancies in the Odisha Medical Education Service (OMES) cadre in all the eight medical colleges in his affidavit. It states that while the vacancies in the base-level posts of assistant professor is 426, it is 94 in the promotional posts of associate professor and 40 in case of professor.
“In order to treat patients and teach UG and PG students in MCHs, 382 assistant professors, 26 associate professors and six professors have been engaged on contractual/adhoc basis”, he said.
Sharma said the existing vacancies in the OMES cadre in the promotional posts of 40 professors and 94 associate professors belong to 25 broad speciality and 14 super speciality disciplines. “The major reason for vacancy in promotional posts of professor and associate professor is non-availability of suitable candidates in the zone of consideration in the feeder category posts of assistant professor/associate professor in spite of convening of regular departmental promotion committees,” he added.