A move to engage medical personnel in government medical college hospitals, affiliated institutions and peripheral hospitals on a temporary basis — for three months — has evoked sharp criticism from doctors’ associations.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Department is all set to engage additional human resources such as medical officers, laboratory technicians and multi-purpose health workers in various institutions under the Directorate of Medical Education (DME).
In a notification, the Department said that the additional manpower would be recruited on a temporary basis, through outsourcing, for three months.
The plan is to appoint 665 medical officers, 365 laboratory technicians and 1,230 multipurpose health workers on consolidated pay. This includes 30 doctors each at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, the Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, and other medical college hospitals in Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Madurai and Coimbatore.
However, the decision has drawn flak. G.R. Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality, said that doctors should not be appointed through outsourcing or on contract, on a temporary basis. “Instead, the government can make permanent appointments through the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB), even if an emergency arises. Despite opposition, the government reduced manpower in government medical colleges, citing Medical Council of India norms,” he said.
‘Reinstate the doctors’
He added that many doctors who completed postgraduation were working in other health directorates. “These doctors should be promoted to DME institutions. All doctors who were transferred for taking part in a protest should be reinstated to their original posts. Most of them are specialists and super specialists,” he said.
K. Senthil, State president of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association, said that the association, as a policy, was opposed to appointment of doctors on contract basis. “This will not yield the desired result. Doctors should be appointed on a regular time-scale basis,” he said.
Increasing manpower is a welcome move, said A. Ramalingam, convenor of the Federation of Government Doctors’ Association.
“But last year, through a government order, (4D)-2, for restructuring posts in government medical college hospitals, nearly 600 posts of assistant surgeons in the ranks of junior, senior residents and assistant professors were cut across the State. This led to the displacement of several doctors — nearly 200 in Chennai alone. This is the right time to amend the order and increase the posts as per patient strength,” he said.
A doctor said that the move was to reduce the expenditure burden.
“Recently, MRB called for applications to fill up 223 vacancies. They can increase this number to 1,000 to fill the gaps in COVID-19 duty, instead of outsourcing for three months. If they call for regular appointments, even specialists will come forward,” an office-bearer of the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers’ Association said.
