TENKASI: Tamil Nadu Health Department has begun collecting the security bond amount from doctors who illegally absconded from government service after availing of various benefits. Of the 10 doctors who had absconded in recent years from the government hospitals in Tenkasi, three have paid the security bond amount recently, while others are preparing to pay, according to officials. However, none of the doctors who had absconded from service in Tirunelveli and other southern districts have paid the amount yet.
All of these doctors benefited from the 50% reservation in PG, super-specialty, or diploma seats, 30% NEET-PG incentive marks, a hefty monthly salary during their three years of study, and three years of leave with retention of government service seniority after promising to serve in government institutions through a security bond. More than 500 doctors in Tamil Nadu absconded from government service to venture into the private sector.
TNIE, which has been writing about officials’ apathy in collecting the security bond amount from such doctors since 2023, had obtained a list of more than 200 absconding doctors through an RTI application, even as many health institutions refused to share the information.
According to health department sources, those who paid the bond amount in Tenkasi include a senior assistant surgeon, who runs one of the largest hospitals in Tenkasi; an assistant surgeon, who inaugurated a scan centre opposite the Government District Headquarters Hospital in Tenkasi, from where she had absconded; and a civil surgeon running a clinic in Sankarankovil. While two of them paid Rs 20 lakh each, another paid Rs 5 lakh. The department is yet to issue show-cause notices to two orthopedicians, sources said.
Though some doctors across the state had earlier voluntarily paid the bond amount to obtain clearance from the health department, this is the first time the state government has invoked the Revenue Recovery Act to collect the amount from absconding doctors.