Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 4: A number of key administrative posts have been lying vacant in Health Department of Jammu and Kashmir for last many months causing inconvenience to the employees as well as patients and adversely affecting the functioning of the Department, both at the administrative level as well as on the delivery front but the Government seems to be in no mood to fill the same.
Official sources told Excelsior that the post of Director Health Services Jammu is lying vacant for last around 2 years while the post of Director Family Welfare, MCH & Immunization has fallen vacant on March 31, 2023 after the retirement of Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman, who was also holding the additional charge of Director Health Services Jammu.
“These two posts—Director Health Services Jammu and Director Family Planning are key administrative posts and the Government is supposed to make appointment on these important posts a few days prior to the retirement of those holding these posts but the lackadaisical attitude of the people at the helm of J&K Health Department can be gauged from the fact that even after four days of the retirement of Dr Saleem-Ur-Rehman, Government is in no hurry to fill up these posts,” sources lamented.
They further informed that the post of Deputy Director, Health Services (Schemes), Jammu, has been lying vacant for the last over one year after the retirement of Dr KC Dogra while the post of Assistant Director, Rehbar-e-Sehat (Jammu), is lying vacant for the last over eight-nine months after the retirement of Dr Deepak Kapoor, post of State Venereologist Jammu is vacant for the last one year after the retirement of Dr Neeta Singh and the post of State Malariologist is vacant for last 8- 9 months after superannuation of Dr Rita Kotwal.
Sources further disclosed that there is no Block Medical Officer in place in Ramnagar, Chhatroo (Kishtwar) and Nowshera while the posts of Medical Superintendent (MS) in District Hospital Ramban and District Hospital Kishtwar have been lying vacant for last around 1-2 months after the retirement of Dr Mehmood Iqbal and Dr Javeda Bano, respectively. The post of MS Jagti Hospital is also vacant for last around 6 months after the retirement of Dr Anila Kaul.
“Moreover, several officers are holding two or more additional charges and it becomes difficult for them to efficiently run even one position,” they said, adding at present, Dr Harjeet Rai (Epidemiologist, Jammu) is holding additional charge of the post of State Malariologist and Dr Jyoti Jolly (DNO Jammu) has been given the additional charge of Zonal Leprosy Officer.
Sources said that such key administrative posts lying vacant in Health Department may have adverse affect on healthcare system of Jammu region as the COVID cases have once again started rising in the entire Union Territory. “Moreover, this is not only affecting the functioning of the Department, especially at the administrative level but many administrative decisions are either not being taken or are being delayed unnecessarily,” they alleged.
It is pertinent to mention here that around three months ago, a delegation of Jammu and Kashmir Medical Employees Federation (JKMEF) Jammu met with Bhupinder Kumar (Administrative Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department) at Civil Secretariat, Jammu and urged him to fill the vacant posts immediately.
Sushil Sudhan (JKMEF Jammu president), who was leading the delegation, told Excelsior that in meeting with the Secretary Health, the latter has assured to fill the vacant posts in one or two weeks but he lamented that only few posts were filled after the assurance and most of the key administrative posts are still lying vacant.
When contacted, Administrative Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department, Bhupinder Kumar, said that all these vacant administrative posts are under their active consideration and will be filled very soon.
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