It is a pity that while we have the lowest percentage of doctor-population ratio in the State, the Health Department has been obliged to issue termination orders of 73 doctors for unauthorized absence from duty. Among the ousted doctors there are 35 probationers and 38 regulars. They are spread over Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
It is all right for the Health Department to say that all formalities were completed before termination orders were issued. The absentees were served with proper notice and given several opportunities to report to duty but to no avail. Going by administrative standards and practices, termination of the services of a Government employee when found on unauthorized absence from duty, is the normal course of service rules. But notwithstanding the jurisprudence of law enforcement, this is a very special case and needs much more patient and rational handling. Medical seat is the most prestigious thing one can aspire to get. The Government spends no fewer than twenty lakh rupees for full-fledged training of a student to make him a doctor. The most common reason for doctors to go on unauthorised absence is that they are not posted to a place of their choice. True that posting is the prerogative resting with the Health Department only. But the need is for rationalising posting of doctors whether regular or on probation, to a selective place. Doctors hesitate to perform duty in rural areas. They earn good deal from private practice in towns something not to be found in villages. Favourites or doctors with strong clout in corridors of power remain in premier medical institutions for long years and to the chagrin of others waiting in the wings. The solution to this problem is that at the time of admission to classes the prospective doctors should be made to give an affidavit that they will render at least three years of service in far flung villages and habitats in the State. Longest-in doctors should be posted out and outsiders given chance of serving in premier institutions at lest for a period of 3-5 years. And above all doctors have to be indoctrinated with moral responsibility of rendering services to the most deprived and backward segments of society.
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