To meet acute shortage of postgraduate doctors, Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said the state government planned to create a separate cadre for postgraduate doctors.
While addressing press at Palampur, Minister said the state needed separate cadres of GDOs and direct appointees at a par with adjoining states as it would help the government to attract postgraduate doctors to the state health services. He added that prior it the state had a separate cadre for postgraduate doctors till 1990, but the BJP government had abolished the separate cadre which hit health services.
He said there were over 200 vacancies of postgraduate doctors in the state and a number of district and zonal hospitals were without specialists. He believed that separate cadre for postgraduate doctors will help to meet this challenge. Kaul Singh said that there were 300 posts of doctor and 1,500 paramedic vacant in the Health Department. He blamed previous Govt’s defective recruitment policy for it.
He revealed that the government had also urged the Medical Council of India to enhance undergraduate and postgraduate seats at the Shimla and Tanda medical colleges.
Kaul Singh also reiterated Govt’s policy of zero tolerance to corruption in the Health Department and while replying to a question over his stand on the doctors at government hospitals, who were allegedly receiving commission for prescribing substandard medicines, Thakur said that he would not hesitate in suspending doctors found guilty. He also directed Chief Medical Officers and other senior officers to immediately conduct an audit of indoor prescriptions and initiate action.
