Tamil Nadu bans leave for Govt Doctors amid staff shortage
Chennai: In response to the growing crisis of staff shortages in government hospitals, Dr. J Rajamoorthi, Director of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS), has issued a directive instructing all district Joint Directors (JDs) of Health Services to withhold approval of earned leave applications submitted by government doctors.
According to the order issued on Wednesday, JDs have been informed not to forward any leave requests to the DMS office until the issue of insufficient medical personnel is resolved. The directive is applicable to doctors in key administrative and senior clinical roles, including deputy directors, chief civil surgeons, and senior civil surgeons, reports the Daily.
“A large number of doctors, across various wings, including health services, family welfare, TB and Leprosy, are seeking earned leave for personal reasons. However, due to the current shortage, granting leave will affect uninterrupted treatment to the public. Until the situation improves, officers are instructed to reject such applications at the district-level,” the circular stated.
One of the government doctors told The New indian Express, the restriction has forced many medical professionals to cancel previously planned foreign trips. The situation has raised concerns among medical staff, particularly regarding work-life balance and long-term morale. Dr. P Saminathan, President of the Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association, criticized the move, highlighting that the state government has failed to create a single new doctor post in any of the 16 government headquarters hospitals in recent years. “The patient load is increasing across the state, but there is no corresponding effort to improve treatment quality or infrastructure. Refusing entitled leave to doctors is inhumane,” he said.
Despite multiple attempts, both Dr. Rajamoorthi and Health Secretary P. Senthilkumar remained unavailable for comment. The development reflects the strain on Tamil Nadu’s public healthcare system, already burdened by increasing patient loads and limited human resources.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that among the 36 Government medical colleges (GMCs) in the State, altogether 34 colleges have a shortage of staff in up to 95% of the departments, including the departments of general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, and dermatology. Following this, the National Medical Commission (NMC) slapped show cause notices on 34 Government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu for deficiencies in faculty and services, including labs and surgeries.
