Chandigarh may soon get over shortage of doctors

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Chandigarh, June 2

To meet a shortage of medical officers, the UT Administration has received panels of 74 medical officers from Punjab and Haryana for deputation in the city. UT Adviser Dharam Pal today reviewed the status of medical officers in the Health Department.

Health Secretary Yashpal Garg said considering the shortage of medical officers, certain efforts were initiated in February.He said fresh panels of eligible doctors for deputation as per the Recruitment Rules were called from Punjab and Haryana immediately.

To take care of the eventuality of not getting panels from Punjab and Haryana, the Central Government and all UTs, and Himachal Pradesh were also requested to forward the names of eligible willing doctors for deputation.

Letters were sent to the health secretaries of Punjab and Haryana, the Central Government and all UTs to send panels/applications, he said, adding that a requisition was being sent to the UPSC for direct recruitment.

To ensure that all selections are made strictly on merit and through a transparent process, a screening committee, to be chaired by the Health Secretary, was constituted. Other members of the committee include the Director-Principal, GMCH, Sector 32, and the Director, Health Services, UT.

The committee scrutinised the record of persons in the panel and had personal interactions to assess their suitability for deputation in Chandigarh. The recommendations of the committee were placed before the Adviser for the final decision about deputation in the UT.

Garg said these efforts yielded good results and in past 15 days, nine medical officers (dental), medical officers (allopathic) and two drug inspectors were selected for deputation in the UT. With the approval of the Adviser, offer letters had been issued and some of them had already joined while others were in the process of joining.

Further, last week, panels of 30 doctors from Punjab and 44 doctors from Haryana were received.

A few more requests were also being received from different states/UTs and the same would be considered on the basis of requirement, he said.

Meanwhile, the Adviser directed the Health Secretary to complete the process of screening within a month.

Screening panel constituted

To ensure that all selections are made strictly on merit and through a transparent process, a screening committee, to be chaired by the Health Secretary, was constituted. Other members of the committee include the Director-Principal, GMCH, Sector 32, and the Director,