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Posts vacant, Punjab struggles to attract MBBS doctors
Nearly 30% of selected candidates fail to turn up; dept extends joining deadline to Jan 12 ; Despite tall claims, Punjab is struggling to attract sufficient MBBS doctors in its latest recruitment drive with nearly 30% of the selected candidates failing to join their posts even after the January 3 deadline.
Despite tall claims, Punjab is struggling to attract sufficient MBBS doctors in its latest recruitment drive with nearly 30% of the selected candidates failing to join their posts even after the January 3 deadline.
Out of the 400 advertised posts for medical officers (general), 304 candidates were issued appointment letters on December 3, 2024, with a one-month window to join.
However, by the deadline, only 218 doctors had reported for duty, prompting the department to extend the joining deadline to January 12.
According to director of health and family welfare, Dr Hitinder Kaur, around 30 selected doctors have requested an extension, citing their ongoing commitments in the private sector.
“We have issued notices to the absentees, seeking reasons for not joining. Most have responded, and we will finalise the department’s next steps by the end of this week,” she said.
On January 3, the department also issued a public notice in newspapers, warning that the selection of doctors who fail to join by January 12 would be cancelled.
Pay disparity, job conditions to blame
While the Punjab government offers a starting salary of ₹53,100 with a gross pay of nearly ₹1 lakh for new MBBS doctors, it falls short compared to neighbouring states like Haryana and Delhi, where salaries are higher and include better career progression schemes such as assured career progression.
In Delhi and Haryana, the salary of newly recruited MBBS doctors starts from ₹1.5 lakh and ₹1.35 lakh, respectively, official sources revealed.
Additionally, existing challenges such as a lack of a safe working environment, a toxic work culture, and the absence of promotion opportunities are discouraging doctors from joining or staying in the government sector, the official sources added.
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has raised concerns about the ongoing crisis in the health department.
PCMSA president Dr Akhil Sarin said that nearly 60 doctors, most of them specialists, have resigned from the department in the past few months.
“New doctors are reluctant to join, while experienced ones are leaving. The department is on the brink of collapse,” Dr Sarin added.
He highlighted the stalled pay scale revisions, which were earlier designed to compensate for delayed promotions.
“Doctors wait for nearly 20 years for their first promotion to senior medical officer, often close to retirement. Without the restoration of pay hikes at 4, 9, and 14 years of service, the situation will worsen,” he added.
This recruitment, which has been done after a gap of four years, will be the biggest recruitment by the health department in the past few decades.
The last recruitment was done in 2020 when around 400 doctors were recruited phase wise between 2009 and 2020.
An advertisement for this drive was issued by the Baba Farid University of Life Sciences, Faridkot, in August last year with a deadline to apply for the job as September 4, 2024. Such is the grim situation about the vacancies on the ground that at present out of 2,300 sanctioned posts of MOs, approximately 1,250 (54%) are lying vacant.
When it comes to specialists in government-run facilities, the situation is grimmer as out of 2,700 sanctioned posts, 1,590 (nearly 55%) are lying vacant.
When it comes to attract specialists, the government has not been able to make a mark as official records accessed by HT reveals that in the recruitment drive carried out in 2022, against 634 posts advertised in this drive a mere 271 (42%) joined and among them as well, nearly 80 have already left the job. In this advertisement only 592 applicants had applied for the job against 634 posts.
