Over 200 doctors reneging bond to face action
“We have identified 255 doctors who graduated from Srinagar and Haldwani medical colleges and will now be sending notices to them for submitting the bond amount, failing which legal action will be taken against them as well as their guarantors,” said Navin Baluni, health advisor to chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat--who also holds the health portfolio.
DEHRADUN: As many as 255 doctors who graduated from government medical colleges in Uttarakhand and signed a bond promising to serve in the state or pay penalty but reneged on it, are in for trouble.
The government has compiled a list of doctors who have neither paid penalty nor reported for rural service, an official said on Wednesday.
In the bond, students opting for subsidized medical education in government-run medical colleges in Uttarakhand had given an undertaking at the time of admission that they will render two year of compulsory rural service in the mountain state or pay a penalty.
“We have identified 255 doctors who graduated from Srinagar and Haldwani medical colleges and will now be sending notices to them for submitting the bond amount, failing which legal action will be taken against them as well as their guarantors,” said Navin Baluni, health advisor to chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat--who also holds the health portfolio.
The Uttarakhand government introduced subsidized medical education for students on the condition that they will serve in the remote hill areas of the state for at least two years after completing their courses, he said.
The step was taken to tide over the shortage of doctors in the state where more than 50% of posts are lying vacant and to improve healthcare services in the remote hill areas.
“Since the students signed bonds ranging from ₹30 lakh to ₹1 crore, we’re hoping to recoup at least ₹76 crore through the move, which will be used for improving healthcare services in the state,” Baluni told Hindustan Times.
The action will also send out a “strong message” against such a malpractice among students who are currently pursuing medical courses in government-run medical colleges in the state, he said.
“As a long-term solution, the government is working to rope in more than 700 doctors to improve the overall healthcare services in Uttarakhand, especially in the remote mountain areas.”