Acute shortage of doctors in rural areas of J&K UT
Asks why newly recruited reluctant to serve in remote areas
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 23: Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal today expressed serious concern over the failure of the Government to overcome the acute shortage of doctors in the rural areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir even after repeated directions during the past three years.
Moreover, the highest court has sought to know what steps have been initiated by the Health and Medical Education Department so far or being contemplated so as to check reluctance on the part of freshly recruited doctors in providing services in the rural parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Division Bench also wanted to know the reason behind non-advertisement of posts of Dental Surgeons since 2012 despite having vacant posts in various health institutions and availability of large number of eligible candidates.
When the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Balwinder Singh Versus State of Jammu and Kashmir highlighting acute shortage of Medical Officers, Consultant Specialists and others in the health institutions of Jammu province came up for hearing through video-conferencing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocate Naveed H Naik drew the attention of the Division Bench towards the figures obtained through the medium of Right to Information Act in the year 2018.
“As per the status report dated February 22, 2019, overall sanctioned strength of Medical Officers, Consultants, Senior Consultants, Dental Surgeons and Consultant Dentistry in Jammu and Kashmir was 2163. Out of this, 1709 posts were filled and 454 were lying vacant”, Advocate Ahmed said.
In the status report dated April 24, 2019, it was mentioned by the Health and Medical Education Department that 1000 vacancies of Medical Officers were advertised and selection process was received in respect of 921 posts. However, 459 Medical Officers failed to join and their appointments were cancelled.
Out of 462 Medical Officers who actually joined the services, 96 Medical Officers resigned while as services of 61 Medical Officers were terminated during probation keeping in view their unauthorized absence. Moreover, 24 Medical Officers were still on unauthorized absence.
“This clearly reveals that only 281 Medical Officers are actually in place post selection process”, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed said, adding “as per the status report dated October 15, 2020, a total of 630 doctors were appointed during the year 2019 and 2020 in Jammu division but 452 doctors either not joined or resigned after joining as a result of which actual number of doctors working at their place of posting is 178”.
“The analysis of all these status reports indicate that 1625 posts of Medical Officers, Senior Consultants and Consultants are still lying vacant and if these figures are compared with the figures which were considered for filing of Public Interest Litigation one can easily come to the conclusion that Government has failed to overcome the shortage of doctors in the rural areas”, Advocate Ahmed submitted before the Division Bench.
It was further submitted before the Division Bench that most of the candidates selected against the vacant posts were pursuing Post Graduate or Super Specialization Courses and when they were posted in the health institutions situated in the rural areas they preferred to resign or not to join so as to go pursue their courses. “This trend is fraught with compounding the problems in the health institutions situated in rural areas which are already reeling under acute shortage of doctors and para-medical staff”, Advocate Ahmed submitted.
After hearing Advocate Ahmed in length, the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice expressed deep concern over failure of the Government to overcome the shortage of doctors in the rural areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and reluctance on the part of newly recruited doctors to render services in such areas.
“It seems that there are defects in the Recruitment Rules and the same are required to be removed as early as possible so that only those candidates participate in the selection process who are willing to serve in the rural areas”, the DB said.
Advocate General D C Raina was present during the proceedings and assured the Division Bench that within one week they will come up with latest report mentioning the steps being taken by the Government to overcome shortage of doctors.
Accordingly, Division Bench directed the Senior Additional Advocate General H A Siddiqui to seek instructions from the Government on the issues projected in the PIL. “We also want to know what steps have been taken or being contemplated by the Health and Medical Education Department to check reluctance on the part of freshly recruited doctors in providing services in rural parts of Jammu and Kashmir”, the DB added.
“The Government should also inform us as to why the posts of Dental Surgeons etc have not been advertised since 2012 as has been pointed out by the counsel for the PIL”, the DB said, adding “the PIL highlights the grave issues as such Government should initiate steps in a time bound manner to address the same”.
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