The State Government has no idea of the whereabouts of 218 doctors who had studied in the medical colleges of the State and availed of the benefit of subsidised fees structure after entering into a bond with State health department to serve in the State health services after completing their studies.
These doctors simply jumped the provisions of the bonds with impunity leaving the State health department red faced. In a report submitted to the State administration, the State medical education directorate has informed that 783 medical students have passed out from the medical colleges of the State and out of them only 244 are working in the state health services as per the provision of the bond while 70 are doing their post graduation.
The report informed that 218 doctors have not joined duties as per the provisions of the bond.
The medical education department has requested the state to implement a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for punitive action against the absconding bonded medical officers.
The State Government bears the major portion of the fees of the medical students who enter into a bond to serve in health department after completion of their studies.
However in the absence of any defined procedure of action most of these students jump the provision of bond with impunity and avoid joining the state health services.
The medical education director, Dr Ashutosh Sayana said that the department suggested some changes in the procedure to be followed after which legal action can be initiated against these absconders. He said that the department has suggested that the doctors joining the state health services after completion of their studies should be given a permanent appointment. At present the bonded medical officers are appointed on contract. Dr Sayana said that these doctors should be provided some incentive for entrance of Post Graduate (PG) courses.
It is learnt that bonded medical students taking advantage of many loopholes in the provisions of bonds and refrain from joining government hospitals after completion of their studies.
This tendency of the students has sabotaged the very purpose of the whole exercise. The government had thought that by entering into a bond the doctors could be made available in remote and mountainous areas of the state.
The bonded medical students have to a pay an annual fees of only Rs 50000 as compared with Rs 4.0 lakh needed to be paid by a normal student. One of the major problems faced by the medical education department is that the bond is signed by student, his/ her parent and Principal of the respective college but after completion of the studies the appointment is given by the DG health.
The experts say that the state administration should device a fool proof mechanism so that the new doctors are prevented from jumping the bond.
Recently the state took a decision to raise the amount of bond to Rs 2 Crore from Rs 30 lakh for MBBS students and Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 15 lakh for the Post Graduate (PG)medical students.
The MBBS students of the Haldwani medical college are entering into a bond from the year 2004 while the students of the first batch of the Government medical college Srinagar signed the bond in the year 2008.