Recruitment of 183 posts against 900 vacancies irks doctors

Hyderabad: Government doctors are on a warpath for two reasons. One because the government had notified for 183 posts only while there are 900 vacancies and secondly because the government wants them to take up new responsibilities in different areas which could lead to several problems.

The doctors say that they are willing to go to any place but not in the middle of the academic year. This would affect the education of their children. New postings, they said, should be done in January before the new academic year begins so that they can go to the new place of work and settle down.

The doctors, who went for counselling, sat in protest and finally the Director of Medical Education assured them that he would speak to Health Minister T Harish Rao and take a decision. Following this, the doctors temporarily called off their protest. The issue pertains to promotion of doctors from Assistant Professors to Associate Professors and presently over 190 doctors are eligible for promotions.

A senior doctor said that the government, by showing only 183 posts, has clearly sent a message that either the doctors should forgo promotion or accept remote postings. The doctor said that the government has been setting up new medical colleges indiscriminately without filling up vacancies and without facilities. By limiting the vacancies, the government wants to dictate terms and make the doctors take the post which it wants. This is the first promotion after 15 years of service and all were happy.

But the way it is being done is causing concern to them. Telangana Teaching Government Doctors’ Association general secretary Dr Jalagam Tirupati Rao said that many were ready to go to the new colleges. “All of them are not asking for Osmania or Gandhi hospital. Over 90 per cent of them want the government to show vacancies in peripheral hospitals. There is no harm in showing all the vacancies of associate professors. The government should follow GO 273 showing all the vacancies instead of selective vacancies,” he said.