Selection of 371 medicos won’t ease out situation in peripheries
Srinagar: The recent selection of 371 medical officers is not going to address the shortage of medicos in the peripheries. Out of the selected 371 doctors to be appointed in the peripheries of the State as Medical Officers only 151 joined the duties and the rest of 220 posts would remain technically occupied but physically unmanned for another 2 to 3 years to come.
Out of 371 doctors that were selected as Medical Officers in February this year, around 60 per cent of such selectees were either undergoing PG or were pursuing their respective Registrar-ships from different medical colleges of the state.
As per the figures available with Kashmir Vision, out of 371 selectees, 47 selectees are busy with their studies at Govt Medical College Jammu, where 12 selectees are undergoing Registrar-ship and 35 selectees are undergoing PG.
Similarly, out of 371 selectees, 58 selectees were busy with their studies at Govt Medical College Srinagar, where 36 selectees are undergoing Registrar-ship and 22 selectees are undergoing PG.
Similarly, out of 371 selectees, 84 selectees were busy with their studies at SKIMS, Soura, where 31 selectees are undergoing Registrar-ship and 53 selectees are undergoing PG.
At SKIMS Medical College Bemina, out of 371 doctors that were selected, 31 selectees were busy with their studies at Govt Medical College Srinagar, where 19 selectees are undergoing Registrar-ship and 2 selectees are undergoing PG.
Overall, figures reveal that out of total selectees 98 doctors were undergoing Registrar-ship and 112 doctors were undergoing PG, making it impossible for 220 doctors to work as Medical Officers even when they were selected for the posts.
“Such candidates just submit their joining report but leave immediately to complete their Registrar-ships or PG courses in the respective GMCs / SKIMS. Thus the posts for which they had been selected though get filled technically but remain vacant physically and both the public and the Directorates of Health Services continue to suffer,” officials said, adding that it becomes neither feasible nor advisable to force the selectees to abandon their studies.”
The officials said that it has been felt that whenever vacancies occur in the Regular Duty Posts (RDP) cadre of the MOs, these are referred to the PSC “which takes time and until the select lists are obtained from the PSC posts these regular duty posts remain vacant.”
Even the Audit report of the Health and Medical Education Department has made a certain observation on the same lines.
“When the select list is finally received, it contains a large number of selectees who would be either undergoing Registrar-ship or doing their Post-Graduation in the various Medical Colleges of the State or the SKIMS or even outside the State,” the report observes.
“Asking the medicos to leave their registrar-ships or PG Courses midway would cause loss of these PG seats and would also reduce the availability of Registrars suddenly which could lead to de-recognition of Certain UG/PG Courses of these Medical Colleges by the Medical Council of India,” it adds.
In case of the Medical Officers, out of 371 selectees, only 151 would join and then also become available for manning the various New Type of PHCs in the field whereas the remaining 220 would simply block the 220 ‘regular duty posts’ of the MOs.
Such a vicious circle which keeps the posts physically occupied would keep on repeating unless it is broken by operating the ‘Reserves’ of 553 posts of the MOs cadre.
The ‘Reserves,’ the officials said to include “Deputation Reserve (4%) of 111 posts, Leave Reserve of (10%) of 276 posts & Training Reserve (6%) of 166 posts.”
“These 220 selectees can be adjusted against the said ‘Reserve’ and fill the consequently released ‘Regular Duty posts’ by operating the waiting list and referring back the remaining ‘Regular Duty Posts’ to the J&K PSC for fresh selection,” the official said
However, it is also said that this breaking up of the circle, by operating the ‘Reserves,’ would need the concurrence of the Finance Department and consultation with the GAD.
“There would no financial implication of operating the reserves thus as these selectees who are working as Registrars would continue to get their salary/remuneration permissible,” officials said.
Further, while deliberating upon the same issue, the Audit Report suggests that there is a need for the department to amend the rules to prohibit the doctors undergoing PG from applying for the posts of Medical Officers advertised by the recruiting agency J&KPSC.
“The Department also needs to amend the Recruitment Rules in the meanwhile to debar the candidates in the First and Second Year of their PG Courses/ Registrar-ship from applying for the posts of MOs advertised by the J&K PSC in future,” the Audit Report recommends.
Irfan Tramboo
