Tamil Nadu withholds proposal to appoint IAS as Head of Directorate of Medical Education
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government's proposal to appoint an IAS officer as the head of the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has been put on hold following opposition from doctors' associations, including the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) and the Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association (SDGPA).
The SDPGA said that until 2000, the Health Department had only one IAS officer serving as the Health Secretary. Meanwhile, the TNGDA expressed shock over the proposal to appoint an IAS officer as the Commissioner of the Directorate of Medical Education.
“We strongly condemn this move,” said P. Saminathan, president of the SDPGA. The association further added that this has led to disgruntlement among government doctors as there has been no proportionate increase in the number of government doctors, who work at the ground level. In 2000, 8,000-odd doctors were working in government health facilities, including 13 government medical colleges, government hospitals and primary health centres. More than two decades later, the number has increased to about 20,000. During the same period, however, the public healthcare network has expanded significantly to include 36 government medical colleges, nearly 300 government hospitals and more than 2,200 PHCs.
The association further noted that IAS officers were appointed to key administrative positions, including project director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society. Over the years, they have also come to head the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project as project director, the National Health Mission, Tamil Nadu as mission director, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation as managing director and Medical Services Recruitment Board as chairperson.
Under such circumstances, the association urged the government to increase the number of doctor posts in line with the patient load, in accordance with the Indian Public Health Standards recommendations.
Expressing concern over the proposal, the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) questioned the need for such a change, stating that the Health Department had functioned effectively under the existing administrative system for the past four decades.
Speaking to Medical Dialogues, TNGDA State President, Dr A.Srinivasan, said, “Following the united efforts of TNGDA and with the intervention of Hon'ble Minister for Medical Education and Health, Dr. Arun Raj, the proposal to appoint IAS officers as Directors of Medical Education and Medical & Rural Health Services has been withheld''.
All associations unanimously opposed the appointment of IAS officers as Directors and resolved to jointly take strong democratic action if required. I am happy to share that the issue has been resolved. TNGDA represented the issue to the Health Minister with the Federation of Para-medical Staff and Ministerial Staff. Honourable Health Minister accepted the representation of TNGDA, and for now, Dr Loganayaki (Additional Director of Medical Education) has been given Full Additional Charge as DME.”
