Over 1,000 doctors on transfer list

Thiruvananthapuram: After a long wait of three years, the general transfer list of doctors in the health services is finally out with over 1,000 doctors included in the transfer list. This is for the first time that such a huge number of doctors feature in the general transfer list.
From 2019 to 2021, only a partial transfer list, which featured only 300 to 400 doctors, was published in the state . If 2019 was the election year, then in 2020 and 2021 a mass general transfer list could not be published due to the pandemic situation prevailing in the state.
The general transfer list which has been published now is of 2021. About 600 assistant surgeons and 300 junior consultants have found place in the general transfer list. The transfer list of consultants and senior consultants is expected in a week. All combined, over 1,000 doctors will be moving out of their present locations.
“We are happy that the general transfer list is finally out in the health services department. Even though delayed, this time the list is quite comprehensive, and the association is happy with the way this list has been prepared,” said Dr G S Vijayakrishnan, state president of Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA).
Even though over 1,000 doctors have been included in the general transfer, a few doctors have approached the authorities with appeals. A few of them have approached the court also against the transfers.
According to service rules in the government health services, a transfer is due for a doctor if he or she has completed three years in a hospital. KGMOA is also of the view that the doctors should be given the preference to choose the district if it is an inter-district transfer.