NAMAKKAL: Members of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) at the Namakkal Government Hospital staged a black badge protest on Monday, urging the state government to withdraw the recent government order redeploying junior resident posts from existing government medical colleges to newly opened ones instead of creating new positions.
Doctors said the order, presented as a measure to expand medical staffing, has effectively reallocated existing posts from long-established government hospitals to newly launched institutions, creating a vacuum in older facilities that already handle a large volume of patients.
They alleged that the move has placed an additional workload on the limited number of doctors, nurses, and technicians remaining in these hospitals, thereby disrupting patient care and essential services.
They also pointed out that several newly constructed medical colleges and super-speciality hospitals in districts across Tamil Nadu are functioning without officially sanctioned posts for doctors, nurses, or other supporting staff. While the infrastructure is ready, many of these hospitals remain underutilised due to the absence of manpower.
The protesting doctors stated that rather than redistributing staff from existing hospitals, the government should create new posts with financial sanction to ensure that both old and new institutions operate efficiently. They further urged the health department to engage in discussions with representatives of the medical fraternity before implementing such major administrative decisions.
The protest at the Namakkal Government Hospital was led by district president of the association, Dhanasekaran. Hospital services were briefly affected during the demonstration but were restored later in the day.