Maharashtra Govt Terminates 442 Doctors Over Year-Long Absence From Duty

Mumbai: The Public Health Department on Wednesday issued orders to terminate the services of 442 medical officers who had not reported for work for the last year. At a time when there was a paucity of doctors at state-run medical centres, primary health centres, rural hospitals, and district hospitals, these 442 doctors were missing at the places of their appointments, says the order issued by the department, headed by Minister Prakash Abitkar of the Shiv Sena.

This absence has been deemed illegal. These doctors might have preferred private practice, says sources, but they blocked the state positions for over a year, which is illegal and unethical, said an officer requesting anonymity. Also, the reasons given by the medical officers for the absence were not convincing. Consequently, the proposal to sack them was moved by the office of the Commissioner for Health Services last month.

The final proposal was submitted on April 4, and the order was issued on April 16, sources say. Of the 442 medical officers those have been sacked, 84 were attached to the Nagpur regional office, 75 to Akola regional office, 26 to Kolhapur regional office, 48 to Thane regional office, 85 to Latur regional office, 28 to the Pune regional office, 23 too attached to the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar regional office and 66 to the Nashik regional office of the public health department.

The highest number of such doctors' jobs was from the Nagpur regional office, which comprises comparatively backward districts of Gondia, Gadchiroli, and Chandrapur. As many as 74 doctors did not report for work in the Akola region, which includes districts with a sizable tribal population in Yavatmal, Amravati, and Washim. Latur, which controls health services in the districts such as Beed, Nanded and Dharashiv, saw 85 doctors missing. Nashik region has the highest number of tribal population in the district, as well as in Nandurbar and Dhule districts.