UP Govt likely to revise retirement age of doctors to 65 years

Lucknow: With an aim to address the shortage of doctors in Uttar Pradesh, the retirement age of government doctors might be raised by the Uttar Pradesh government for the third time. 

A letter in this regard was received by the Director General Medical and Health (DGMH,) Dr Lilly Singh, from the department’s special secretary who proposed raising the retirement age of government doctors from the current 62 years to 65 years, with an additional choice to work till 70 years of age.

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The letter observed that health services are negatively affected when the specialist doctors retire or get transferred. It further stated that it also affects the number of PG seats at government colleges that offer the courses. 

The first time of increasing the retirement age was in 2019 when it was raised to 60 years from 58 years. The current would mark the third time such a move is taking place. 

The retirement age of faculty members was already raised by the medical education department to 65 years, reports the Hindustan Times. 

Currently, around 3,000 specialist doctors, who also work as faculty members teaching PG/DNB courses at some government hospitals are under the medical and health department. The total number of doctors amounts to 14000, and every year, a dozen number of doctors retire. 

Last year, the Assam Cabinet had also taken a decision to raise the retirement age of faculty members of government medical colleges in the state from 65 to 70 years, which was reported by the Medical Dialogues team. The move was aimed at augmenting the availability of experienced doctors for educational and medical services, government spokesperson and Minister for Water Resources Pijush Hazarika told reporters. According to Hazarika, around 1100 pass out from the medical colleges of the state every year, which does not meet the increased demand. 

Also Read: Medical Teachers in Assam to now retire at 70 years