TG govt doctors seek 20% cap on transfers

Hyderabad: The Telangana Government Doctors’ Association (TGDA) on Tuesday demanded the State government have a 20 per cent cap on transfers to be taken up in the coming days.

The doctors addressed a press conference here at the office of the Director of Medical Education (DME). The association Gandhi unit president, Bhupender Rathod, said the transfers should be taken up in a transparent manner.

The State government issued a GO in 2018 imposing a cap of 40 per cent on transfers, keeping in view the problems the health sector could face. He said Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, who was the Health Secretary then, had opined that a 40 per cent cap was not good as it would affect functioning and services would be disturbed. She had limited the cap to just 20 per cent.

“The CS knows how difficult it will be if 40 per cent of the staff is transferred. She knows the issues; hence, we request that the Chief Minister have a cap of 20 per cent,” said Rathod. The doctors have also demanded immunity from the association office-bearers.

The doctors said that there were no infrastructure in the new medical colleges and wanted the government to decrease the number of colleges.

“We don’t need so many colleges. Limit them; recently, the NMC imposed a penalty on Kamareddy Medical College for not having infrastructure. The doctors are also burdened; they are not going to the colleges.

The government has increased the retirement age to 65, for which doctors are not ready. When we apply for VRS, they are not accepting,” said Dr. Ramesh.