Dear Gujarat govt, where are senior doctors we need to fight our Covid-19 battle?
REPRESENTATIONAL PICTURE: The health department has ordered medical students to begin training as ‘helpers’ in Covid-designated hospitals
Even as Gujarat sets a new record of active coronavirus cases daily, it faces severe shortage of senior doctors in govt hospitals to tackle the scary situation. Instead of hiring trained doctors, Gujarat govt is trying to get docs on 11-month contract, orders medical students to gear up for ‘Covid helper’ duty
There’s no denying the fear that has gripped the heart of Gujaratis as Covid-19 cases in the State crossed 53,000-mark on Friday. While the citizens look to the government to intensify the battle against coronavirus, the State — which is bracing itself for the second wave of coronavirus pandemic — is facing a severe shortage of senior doctors. The crisis has arisen because the State government has been dragging its feet over hiring permanent doctors for decades.
Even in the midst of the pandemic, its solution has been to hire doctors on 11-month contract. As doctors fighting the Covid war keel over with exhaustion, working long hours donning restrictive PPE gear, thehealth department has ordered first-year to final-year medical students to begin training as ‘helpers’ in Covid-designated hospitals. The reason given: “lack of manpower in the state’s health sector” due to the Covid pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged its way through Gujarat, first hitting the economic capital of Ahmedabad and then moving on to the second biggest city, Surat, by the end of June. As cases continued to increase by leaps and bounds and the death toll mounted steadily, the State government finally sent out advertisements to hire doctors. However, it was not looking to hire doctors permanently, but on an 11-month contractual hiring programme that would end with the pandemic.
However, there were not many takers for this scheme, which hasresulted in more pressure on existing infrastructure and already stressed staff. Meanwhile, more and more doctors on active duty are falling victims first to fatigue and then to coronavirus infection.
Dr Chandresh Jardosh, President of theIndian Medical Association (Gujarat) told Mirror, “The Gujarat government failed to hire doctors in hospitals for years.
Even now, in the midst of a pandemic, it is only seeking to do so on an 11-month contract. The State government is trying to shirk its responsibility, and avoid the burden of having to pay salaries and benefits to those they callCorona Warriors . We have asked the government to recruit permanent doctors.”
Hundreds of vacancies
Of 1,554 sanctioned posts of doctors at 6 government medical colleges-cum-civil hospitals in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Surat, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar, 511 posts were vacant in the beginning of June. Of these, 76 vacancies were for the post of professors, 129 were for post of associate professors while 306 vacancies were for the post of assistant professors. Similarly, there were a total of 309 vacancies in eightGMERS medical colleges-cum-civil hospitals.
In total, there were 820 vacancies for doctors just at the 14 major civil hospitals in the State. This does not even take into account the situation in district hospitals, sub-district hospitals, and other primary healthcare facilities.
Mirror has learnt that of the 511 vacancies at the six civil hospitals, only 213 have been filled through contractual hiring. This has been confirmed by Health Commissioner Jai Prakash Shivahare.
Meanwhile, after walk-in interviews were conducted at various GMERS Hospitals in May and June, 98 appointment letters were handed out to eligible candidates. However, only 56 accepted these appointments while 42 doctors refused to take up postings and forfeited the jobs. DrBipin Nayak , Deputy CEO of GMERS told Mirror, “This is probably due to the fact that doctors do not want to serve in peripheral areas, leading to forfeiture of appointments.
However, we are going to issue another appointment advertisement in the next two weeks and hope to fill some more posts in the hospitals shortly.”
HC orders promotions
Citizens may see some relief asthe Gujarat High Court this week ordered the State government to ensure promotion of deserving and qualified doctors within next three months.
Through a Special Civil Application, the Gujarat Medical Teacher’s Association, had sought promotion of doctors through Direct Promotion Committee. The petition stated that 46 DPC have been formed since 2014. Last August, doctors teaching in government medical colleges went on strike as GPSC exams for promotion of medical teachers had not been held in over nine years. Due to this, doctors were stuck in the same positions and pay grades for almost a decade.
The strike was called off after senior bureaucrats in the health department assured them that a Direct Promotions Committee would be set up shortly to do justice to the medical teachers. But nothing has been done so far.
There’s no denying the fear that has gripped the heart of Gujaratis as Covid-19 cases in the State crossed 53,000-mark on Friday. While the citizens look to the government to intensify the battle against coronavirus, the State — which is bracing itself for the second wave of coronavirus pandemic — is facing a severe shortage of senior doctors. The crisis has arisen because the State government has been dragging its feet over hiring permanent doctors for decades.
Even in the midst of the pandemic, its solution has been to hire doctors on 11-month contract. As doctors fighting the Covid war keel over with exhaustion, working long hours donning restrictive PPE gear, the
The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged its way through Gujarat, first hitting the economic capital of Ahmedabad and then moving on to the second biggest city, Surat, by the end of June. As cases continued to increase by leaps and bounds and the death toll mounted steadily, the State government finally sent out advertisements to hire doctors. However, it was not looking to hire doctors permanently, but on an 11-month contractual hiring programme that would end with the pandemic.
However, there were not many takers for this scheme, which hasresulted in more pressure on existing infrastructure and already stressed staff. Meanwhile, more and more doctors on active duty are falling victims first to fatigue and then to coronavirus infection.
Dr Chandresh Jardosh, President of the
Even now, in the midst of a pandemic, it is only seeking to do so on an 11-month contract. The State government is trying to shirk its responsibility, and avoid the burden of having to pay salaries and benefits to those they call
Hundreds of vacancies
Of 1,554 sanctioned posts of doctors at 6 government medical colleges-cum-civil hospitals in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Surat, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar, 511 posts were vacant in the beginning of June. Of these, 76 vacancies were for the post of professors, 129 were for post of associate professors while 306 vacancies were for the post of assistant professors. Similarly, there were a total of 309 vacancies in eight
In total, there were 820 vacancies for doctors just at the 14 major civil hospitals in the State. This does not even take into account the situation in district hospitals, sub-district hospitals, and other primary healthcare facilities.
State govt is trying to shirk its responsibility, and avoid the burden of having to pay salaries and benefits to those they call Corona Warriors
We had filed HC plea in Mar ’ 19 after govt failed to act on its promise of giving promotion to docs stuck in their designations for more than 10-15 yrs. We will finally get our dues
Mirror has learnt that of the 511 vacancies at the six civil hospitals, only 213 have been filled through contractual hiring. This has been confirmed by Health Commissioner Jai Prakash Shivahare.
Meanwhile, after walk-in interviews were conducted at various GMERS Hospitals in May and June, 98 appointment letters were handed out to eligible candidates. However, only 56 accepted these appointments while 42 doctors refused to take up postings and forfeited the jobs. Dr
However, we are going to issue another appointment advertisement in the next two weeks and hope to fill some more posts in the hospitals shortly.”
HC orders promotions
Citizens may see some relief as
Through a Special Civil Application, the Gujarat Medical Teacher’s Association, had sought promotion of doctors through Direct Promotion Committee. The petition stated that 46 DPC have been formed since 2014. Last August, doctors teaching in government medical colleges went on strike as GPSC exams for promotion of medical teachers had not been held in over nine years. Due to this, doctors were stuck in the same positions and pay grades for almost a decade.
The strike was called off after senior bureaucrats in the health department assured them that a Direct Promotions Committee would be set up shortly to do justice to the medical teachers. But nothing has been done so far.
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