139 Junior doctors recruited at SMS Medical College amid Rajasthan doctors strike

Jaipur: Amidst the ongoing strike by Rajasthan doctors against the Right to Health Bill, the Sawai Man Singh Medical College (SMS Medical College) Jaipur issued an order to recruit 450 junior resident doctors on a temporary basis for six months to fill up the posts left vacant due to resident doctors' boycott. 

The newly recruited doctors would be given a salary of Rs 55,200 and a monthly allowance. The medical college has already recruited 139 junior doctors in one day following the boycott by resident doctors. 

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Dr Rajeev Bagarhatta, principal and controller SMS Medical College, said, "The government has given us permission to recruit 450 junior residents and we have started the process and recruited 139 and more will be recruited as we will continue it daily." 

The new doctors would soon be assigned to their departments, as they will likely be posted in medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiology, surgery and other such departments. 

The state government, however, is coming down against the protesting doctors, with the medical education department issuing orders to the medical college to take action against the resident doctors boycotting work, including cancellation of their registrations. 

As per a recent media report, TOI reports that the college has also threatened to cancel the services of the newly recruited junior doctors if they join the strike or boycott work. 

Around 1000 posts of junior resident doctors have been approved by the state government for the state. The candidates do not require any experience certificate and must have Rajasthan Medical Council registration and an MBBS degree. The age limit for the candidates is 40, and the reservation policy would also be applied. 

The SMS Medical College is recruiting doctors on an emergency basis due to the ongoing protests by the doctors in the state. They are holding walk-in interviews for the recruitment of junior resident doctors. 

The SP Medical College Bikaner has also issued a notice for the recruitment of resident doctors and will be holding walk-in interviews for the appointment of junior residents on April 1. 

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed at the Rajasthan High Court against the striking doctors in the State, who have boycotted their work as a sign of their protest against the recently passed Right to Health Bill. The doctors of private hospitals in Rajasthan have been protesting against the proposed "Right to Health" bill for the last few months. Several Clauses of the bill have been pointed out by the doctors under Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Society (PHNHS) and Jaipur Medical Association as they claimed that it lacks clarity and wants to delimit the powers of doctors. 

The doctors have objected to the clauses requiring the patients to be treated for any medical emergency free of cost at private and government hospitals. The doctors pointed out that the State has not defined what is an emergency and how the cost of such medical expenses will be reimbursed to private doctors and hospitals.

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