Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij. Express photo by Jasbir Malhi
AFTER PUBLICLY holding the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) ‘responsible’ for cancelling transfer orders of doctors from Panchkula to his constituency in Ambala cantonment, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has now resorted to the deputation method for postings, so that the files will not have to go through the CMO.
In a list issued recently exclusively for the hospital in Ambala cantonment, as many as five medical officers – three from Panchkula and two from Kurukshetra have been sent to Ambala on deputation to make up for the shortage there. Against the posts of 46 medical officers, at present there are only 25 working in Ambala cantonment.
The deputation period is for 60 days and the orders are issued by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) only.
The Haryana health department has also decided that for new doctor recruits, Panchkula district would be kept out of their postings. But the decision may not remove the surplus doctors sitting in Panchkula. As per procedure, in the online system of transfers, the doctor can give three desired places of postings. Wherever there is a vacancy, the doctor is posted there.
However, stations Panchkula and Gurgaon would not be there in the list of districts from which the doctor can make a choice, as per the decision taken.
Additional chief secretary (ACS), health, Amit Jha confirmed it to The Indian Express and said they would be recruiting 700 doctors in another two months.
“Some stations like Panchkula and Gurgaon have greater load. However we are now recruiting 700 doctors and we have kept Panchkula and Gurgaon of their postings,” said Jha.
Also, after The Indian Express highlighted how the doctors were coming back to Panchkula by getting their ‘online transfers’ cancelled manually, Health Minister Anil Vij made some changes in the office of Director General Health Services(DGHS).
As dental doctors were found ‘recommended’ for postings at those centres which didnt even exist like the implant centre at Panchkula, the charge of personnel and postings has been taken away from the Director Dental Health Services Praveen Sethi. The charge has been handed over to AD Administration who will handle oversee personnel matters for all doctors including the dental doctors. Vij had earlier expressed his helplessness saying that he was transferring out doctors from Panchkula but they would get its cancelled from Chief Minister’s office. However, the CM’s office told The Indian express that the CM was against the manipulation of transfers. Sources said that Vij has now sought details of all the surplus doctors who were transferred but got the transfers cancelled and came back.
In the last two-and-a-half years, as many as 28 doctors were moved out of Panchkula. But 26 of them got their transfers cancelled of which 14 were those who were sent to Ambala but they came back and are now working in Panchkula.
