Peeved over not being promoted on par with their counterparts in other government services, members of Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) have urged the state government to look into “doctors' plight”.
Notably, the state health department is reeling under staff crunch, affecting the common man.
HCMSA president Dr Kuldeep Singh said: “On paper, there is a hierarchy for a doctor to be recruited as a medical officer (MO), but in actual practice, generally it takes 18 to 20 years for an MO to become a senior medical officer (SMO).”
He said if a person joined as a subdivisional magistrate, he would rise to the post of financial commissioner, a deputy superintendent of police would become inspector general of police, but an MO would stick to his original post during the same tenure.
“The total sanctioned strength of the SMO cadre is 438 posts with no provision of leave/deputation/training reserve,” said Dr Ashish Rana, HCMSA general secretary.
Rana said the sanctioned strength was far less than the required in view of the increased workload, new programmes introduced and the fact that specialists getting promoted as SMOs were being posted in hospitals only.
{{/usCountry}}Rana said the sanctioned strength was far less than the required in view of the increased workload, new programmes introduced and the fact that specialists getting promoted as SMOs were being posted in hospitals only.
{{/usCountry}}Doctors alleged that department officials kept sitting on promotions files of the MOs even after years of their due time was over. Rather, they were given the charge of deputy civil surgeons and CHCs, they said.
THE CATCH
Doctors said the MOs who were given the responsibility of deputy civil surgeons were not provided accounts or financial training (mandatory for every SMO) by the department. But, the same department took no reserve if untrained doctors committed any mistake on this account.
THE EFFECT
Doctors said that denial of timely promotion demotivated them and they had lost faith in the system. They said it also led to increase in the attrition rate, which finally result in poor implementation of health programmes.
DEMANDS
They said the department should introduce a system to change the designation of all with each advanced career progression (as in case of central government) so that they have a sense of progression.