TN Doctors oppose Hasty Transfer of Doctors to PHCs through Compulsory Counselling

Chennai: Upset with the sudden transfer order to the primary health centres through "compulsory counselling", the doctors have opposed the move.

This comes after recently, around 70 doctors, who after completing their MBBS were working in the institutes under the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS), got hastily transferred to the primary health centres on Tuesday.

Issuing a statement in this regard, the Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association (SDPGA) has termed it to be unwarranted and  mentioned that the doctors were transferred even without publishing the vacancy list.

Allegedly, the doctors were forced by the government officials to accept postings in the places shown during the counselling.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu: 52 of 152 doctor posts lying vacant, services hampered at Upgraded Primary Health Centre

As per the latest media report by The Hindu, the president of SDPGA, P Saminathan has pointed out that after the current government came to power back in May 2021, the counselling in the State Health Department was being conducted in a transparent manner. Vacancy list was being published at least 24 hours before the schedule, he claimed.

He told the daily, “We are not against the transfers, but there is no need to do it hastily. Norms should be drawn up and the vacancy list should be published in advance.”

Apart from this, he also pointed out that around 50% of doctors who participated in the intra-directorate counselling of the Directorate Public Health and Preventive Medicine in November and accepted the new posts, have not yet been relieved in many health unit districts.

He also pointed out that all the non-service postgraduates who were posted to PHCs in November did not even report to the PHCs. Resultantly, several posts in the PHCs are still lying vacant, he pointed out.

Amidst this prevailing confusion, MBBS doctors are being transferred in a hasty manner from DMS institutes to the PHCs without even releasing the vacancy list, claimed the SDPGA president.

This is not the first time that the Tamil Nadu doctors have protested against transfer order of doctors. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported about the Tamil Nadu health department's act of forcefully making government doctors agree to dual postings ahead of an inspection by the National Medical Commission (NMC). The Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors pointed out how the doctors are being transferred by the government on a temporary basis to show that there are no vacancies at the newly set up medical institutes.

Also Read: Govt forcing us with Temporary postings to New Medical Colleges just for NMC inspection, allege TN doctors