No luck with MD/MS, govt to appoint PG-diploma docs : The Tribune India

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No luck with MD/MS, govt to appoint PG-diploma docs

CHANDIGARH: After failing to find doctors holding MD/MS degree, the state government today approved the hiring of post-graduate diploma holders to fill the posts of radiologist, anaesthetist, gynaecologist, psychiatrist and paediatricians in government-run hospitals.

No luck with MD/MS, govt to appoint PG-diploma docs

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal presides over a Cabinet meeting in Chandigarh on Monday. Tribune photo



Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 16

After failing to find doctors holding MD/MS degree, the state government today approved the hiring of post-graduate diploma holders to fill the posts of radiologist, anaesthetist, gynaecologist, psychiatrist and paediatricians in government-run hospitals. The decision was approved by the Cabinet, which met under Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today.

Anil Joshi (Local Bodies Minister) and Bikram Singh Majithia (Revenue) gave the meeting a miss, which was held after the former accused the latter’s men of assaulting his brother Raja Joshi in Tarn Taran last week.

The proposal for hiring doctors holding a diploma was approved after Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani admitted that Punjab had failed to hire specialists even after relaxing service conditions.

It has been learnt that the government was short of 350 specialists in various fields, including 117 in paediatrics, 25 gynaecology, 38 radiology, 57 anaesthesia and 29 in psychiatry.

Jyani told The Tribune that specialists in these fields were unwilling to join government service despite being offered incentives. “We then took the opinion of a technical advisory committee of doctors, who opined that post-graduate diploma holders (who have completed MBBS and then done two-year diploma course in a speciality field) could be hired so that the health infrastructure in the state does not suffer. Since the most affected areas were the five fields of psychiatry, gynaecology, radiology, anaesthesia and paediatrics, we have decided to hire these doctors after a walk-in interview, the dates of which will be decided soon,” he said.

For the past three years, Punjab has been trying to hire specialists, but all efforts have been in vain. In 2012, the government had relaxed the condition of minimum age for recruitment from 37 years and taken the recruitment from out of the purview of Punjab Public Service Commission by starting walk-in interviews.

The government also started offering specialists a choice of place of posting and announced additional incentives of over Rs25,000 per month in case the specialist opted for a remote area posting. At times when the process to fill the vacancies was started, the selected candidates would refuse to join duty. As a result, the number of vacancies continued to outnumber the count of applicants.

Other key decisions

  • 48 new posts to be created to implement the Food Safety and Standard Act of India (FSSA)-2006
  • 25 posts in the Health Department to be up-graded
  • The time limit for passing departmental examination for IAS and PCS officers to be lowered from two-and-a-half years to one-and-a-half years by amending sub-rule (2) of rule 7 of the Punjab Civil Services (General and Common Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994
  • Approval to withdrawing all instructions regarding five-year special leave to government employees for the purpose of self-employment
  • Ex-post facto approval to grant extension by five years to Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board Chairman Santa Singh Umaidpur and members Gurmeet Singh Daduwal, Jivan Dhawan and Darshan Lal Jethumajra
  • Approval to set up two self-financed universities, Surya World University at Bapror in Patiala district and Akal University, Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda
  • The Information and Public Relations Department allowed for appoint ‘Branding and PR Agency’ to prepare and execute an effective brand-building for the Punjab government

Finding cure for ailing health services

Incentives fail to work

  • For the past three years, Punjab has been trying to hire specialists, but all efforts have been in vain
  • In 2012, the government relaxed the condition of minimum age for recruitment from 37 years
  • It also took out recruitment from the purview of Punjab Public Service Commission by starting walk-in interviews
  • The government also started offering specialists a choice of place of posting and announced additional incentives of over Rs 25,000 per month in case the specialist opted for a remote area posting

Who is eligible

A doctor with MBBS degree who has done a two-year diploma course in a particular speciality field. Earlier, the eligibility was a degree in post-graduation.

Unfilled posts
Dept                     Vacant

Paediatrician     117
Gynaecologist    25
Radiologist         38
Anaesthetist       57
Psychiatrist        29

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