Dehradun: The state government, focused on improving the health system in Uttarakhand, will soon recruit 300 more doctors, while the services of 56 bond-holding doctors who were absent for a long time have been terminated, according to a statement.
The state's Health and Medical Education Minister, Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, in a statement issued on Sunday, said that recently, doctors had been recruited for 220 posts of medical officers in the Provincial Medical and Health Services cadre under the Health Department, and they have also been deployed at remote health centres of the state.
He said that apart from this, around 300 posts of doctors are lying vacant in the department, for which the officers have been instructed to send a formal request to the Uttarakhand Medical Services Selection Board for early recruitment so that the process can be completed on time and new doctors can be made available to the department.
Rawat said that the state government is focused on creating a better health system in the state. He added that under this initiative, the government is deploying doctors and setting up infrastructure in health units of remote areas to ensure better treatment for the common people in the nearest hospitals.
He also mentioned that the government is not averse to taking action against personnel who are careless with their responsibilities.
Rawat said that, as part of this effort, the government had instructed officials to take action against 234 absent bond-holding doctors who had graduated from government medical colleges last month, along with the recovery of dues.
He said that 178 doctors who were absent had returned to work in the health department after receiving the notice.
However, he added that 56 doctors ignored the final warning, after which all of them were dismissed. He further said that the Director of Medical Education has been instructed to recover the prescribed amount from all those absent doctors as per the terms of the bond.
Under the bond, students are given MBBS education at a minimum fee in the government medical colleges of the state. After completing their MBBS studies, these students are required to serve for five years in the medical units of the hill districts of the state. If they fail to do so, they must pay the prescribed amount in the bond and obtain a no-objection certificate from the department, after which their educational certificates are returned.
There is a provision to recover the prescribed amount from the doctors if the terms of the contract are not followed.
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