Appointment of 16 ‘unqualified’ medical specialists scrapped
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, November 18
The state Health and Family Welfare Department today issued orders to revert all 16 “unqualified” medical specialists to their original posts as medical officers.
On September 14 and October 10, the department had appointed 16 MBBS doctors as specialists in various fields even as they failed their postgraduate examinations.
On October 28, The Tribune had exposed the posting of “unqualified” doctors as medical specialists in government hospitals in the state.
In their posting orders, these “unqualified” doctors were posted in various specialist fields of paediatrician, gynaecologist, anaesthetist, surgeon, ophthalmologist and orthopaedician. They were even allowed to put “MD/MS” after their name.
“As these 16 doctors have failed in their postgraduate medical courses they will work as medical officer with their MBBS degree until they pass the PG exam,” reads the order issued today by Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare.
All these MBBS doctors in the Health Department had got admissions in the PG courses in three government medical colleges and DMCH, Ludhiana, under 60 per cent the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) quota in 2012-2013.
After the completion of the three-year PG course, these doctors appeared in the final exam in June 2016 that they failed to clear.
Despite failing the MD/MS exams, the Health Department was quick in issuing orders to appoint these 16 doctors as specialists in medical specialties.
While working as medical specialists and surgeons in government hospitals, these doctors were appearing for their supplementary PG exams to pass their papers for these medical specialists. The exams are underway since November 9.
