Telangana Govt to dangle perks bait before docs for transfers

Hyderabad: With many doctors reluctant to move out of Hyderabad, the State government is mulling to provide perks to the government doctors who would be transferred to other districts.

The process of transfers started in the health department on Thursday after the department listed out the details of the employees sticking to Hyderabad over the coming transfers for decades. However, many doctors do not want to leave Hyderabad. The doctors would be losing out on the house rent allowances when they are transferred to other districts. According to sources, the government is trying to compensate for their loss by providing some perks to the doctors. The proposal was at the discussion stage, and if this is approved, the doctors may agree to work in remote areas, sources said.

According to the doctors working in the peripheral areas, they have been bringing one issue or another to stay in Hyderabad. The doctors are using the option of a spouse to stay in the city, which is making the government doctors complain. Some others are arguing that they are super specialty experts and that shifting them to other places would affect the super specialty services in the city. These doctors held government positions while also engaging in private practice, which violates regulations. Despite changes in government, they remained in their roles, hindering rural doctors from accessing modern technology in hospitals.

The teaching doctors, who are agitated over not getting opportunities, were hoping that the government would come to their rescue. “I have been working in Nizamabad for almost 12 years. I should also get the opportunity to work in the super specialty wings. Why can't those working in super specialty wings provide services in rural areas?” said a teaching doctor.

Some of the doctors are using the provision of immunity under the guise of trade unions. According to an estimate, there are about 300 members who claim to be office bearers of unions and are getting exemption from the transfers. The doctors demand the government take into account the official unions rather than all other unions. The doctors expressed that, while the current government appears sincere in its transfer policies, they remain concerned about influential doctors evading transfers through conspiracies.