Doctor is out

RouteCute

Editor

posted on 12 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

34
views

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsEven while ministers and MLAs keep making announcements on the latest facilities made available in our government hospitals, many of them seem to lack the basic necessity, the doctors. As many as 54 posts of doctors out of the around 300 total posts remain vacant in Ernakulam district.“The absence of doctors in our hospitals is one of the biggest problems. All the 54 vacancies are open vacancies. Any person who is a doctor can walk in for the interview,” said District Medical Officer, Juneid Rehman.In order to meet the heavy demand from hospitals and doctors, the government now employees doctors on contract basis under the National Rural Health Mission. The district now has as many as 100 doctors taken on contract basis. “Going by the situation it looks like the number of contract doctors might soon overtake the permanent ones in the years to come. But the problem here is that to run a system with contract doctors becomes very difficult. They are free to walk out anytime from a system that is seriously lacking personnel in the first place. Moreover, many of them are MBBS pass-outs and doctors just waiting for the PG admissions,” said a doctor from the Health Department.The starting salary for the doctors is kept at around `37,000, not a bad salary one would think for beginners. But the MBBS holders seem to be neither interested in the vacancy nor in the salary. The presence of a corporate health care with lucrative offers, the prospect of having to deal with a large number of patients, the right infrastructure, no postings to far off places and so on are some of the oft-quoted reasons why doctors say they prefer the private sector to the public. But some also put the blame on the administrators who, unmindful of the professional needs of a doctor, make arbitrary postings.“People keep blaming the doctors for their lack of social commitment for taking to the private sector. But if one is an ambitious doctor, the chances of your growth are low in the public sector. Often you are posted to places with no regard to your interests or your speciality. A good ENT specialist will be put in a primary health sector where his talent has no prospect for growth.The low salary, the pressure to live up to the social status of a ‘doctor’ and also the availability of better offers is something that drives many to the private sector,” said a government doctor from Ernakulam who does not want to be named.first published:August 13, 2012, 12:05 ISTlast updated:August 13, 2012, 12:05 IST
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];_taboola.push({mode: 'thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails', placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });Latest News

Even while ministers and MLAs keep making announcements on the latest facilities made available in our government hospitals, many of them seem to lack the basic necessity, the doctors. As many as 54 posts of doctors out of the around 300 total posts remain vacant in Ernakulam district.

“The absence of doctors in our hospitals is one of the biggest problems. All the 54 vacancies are open vacancies. Any person who is a doctor can walk in for the interview,” said District Medical Officer, Juneid Rehman.

In order to meet the heavy demand from hospitals and doctors, the government now employees doctors on contract basis under the National Rural Health Mission.

The district now has as many as 100 doctors taken on contract basis. “Going by the situation it looks like the number of contract doctors might soon overtake the permanent ones in the years to come. But the problem here is that to run a system with contract doctors becomes very difficult. They are free to walk out anytime from a system that is seriously lacking personnel in the first place. Moreover, many of them are MBBS pass-outs and doctors just waiting for the PG admissions,” said a doctor from the Health Department.

The starting salary for the doctors is kept at around `37,000, not a bad salary one would think for beginners. But the MBBS holders seem to be neither interested in the vacancy nor in the salary. The presence of a corporate health care with lucrative offers, the prospect of having to deal with a large number of patients, the right infrastructure, no postings to far off places and so on are some of the oft-quoted reasons why doctors say they prefer the private sector to the public. But some also put the blame on the administrators who, unmindful of the professional needs of a doctor, make arbitrary postings.

“People keep blaming the doctors for their lack of social commitment for taking to the private sector. But if one is an ambitious doctor, the chances of your growth are low in the public sector. Often you are posted to places with no regard to your interests or your speciality. A good ENT specialist will be put in a primary health sector where his talent has no prospect for growth.

The low salary, the pressure to live up to the social status of a ‘doctor’ and also the availability of better offers is something that drives many to the private sector,” said a government doctor from Ernakulam who does not want to be named.