CHENNAI: Coming down hard on absenteeism, the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services dismissed three government doctors after they stayed away from duty for a number of years. This could only be a tip of the iceberg said sources, adding that 338 government doctors, including chief surgeons and assistant surgeons, were found to have been on long, unauthorised leave.
This absence without leave comes at a time when the government hospitals in the State are battling serious manpower shortage. According to an official source, most of these doctors were active in private practice that earned them substantial income, over and above the benefits they received from the government.
“In the last 10 years, we have received complaints against 338 doctors for unauthorised leave. We cannot encourage this when there is a shortage of manpower in many government hospitals,” said a senior health department official.
“Within two months, we have removed three doctors from service. A probe is on about the charges against the other. If proven, they too will face action depending on the nature of the complaint,” said an official who took action on these doctors.
The department had done this earlier when it identified errant doctors, another official added. “The department would issue notices, directing the doctors to attend duty within a stipulated time. If they fail even after the warning, we remove them from service,” the official said.
Pudukai GH staff penalised for demanding bribe
The health department also took action against three staff of Pudukottai Government Hospital last week on complaints of taking bribe to show a newborn to the family members. The action was taken after the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption forwarded the probe report to the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services for action.
“One is a health worker (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife-ANM) and other two are sanitary workers. For the past few years, they used to demand `200 to `300 as bribe to show newborns to the family. As the complaints were established, we took action. For the ANM, half the pension sum was cut for a year. So after retirement, the staff would get half the pension sum for a year. For sanitary workers the increment has been cut for one year,” said a senior health department official.