Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003 |
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Karnataka
By Our Special Correspondent
He told presspersons that the Government would issue one more notification for the recruitment of duty medical officers and specialists to serve in taluk and district hospitals. If this attempt failed, it would have no choice but to rethink the recruitment policy, including pay scales and other incentives offered to government doctors. The Government only recently completed a special drive to recruit doctors and specialists, and a number of them were appointed on contract basis to quickly fill the vacancies. However, even before things could settle down, many of the doctors either proceeded on leave to pursue higher studies utilising the in-service quota for postgraduate courses, or quit government service to go abroad or work in private hospitals. Mr. Thimmappa said most of the doctors were not inclined to serve in rural areas because of various factors, although it was a fact that many of them received better recognition in villages than in cities. A large number of the doctors who went through the regular recruitment process did not even bother to respond to the appointment orders. There were many who were on unauthorised leave. It took time for the Government to cancel such appointments or dismiss the absentee and fill the vacancies. A duty medical doctor in government service was paid Rs. 7,000 a month and a specialist Rs. 10,000. The Government was also contemplating appointing retired medical specialists or utilising their services on a case-to-case basis in rural areas. He said vacancies existed in every district and Uttara Kannada was the worst affected with 20 vacancies. It was 18 in Bidar, 11 in Chikmagalur, nine in Dakshina Kannada, 10 in Bangalore Rural and Urban districts. Although doctors were available, it had become difficult for the Government to recruit doctors continuously. There were many government hospitals which had sophisticated medical equipment but no trained personnel to handle them. Under the Rs. 600-crore Karnataka Health Systems Development Project implemented over the past five years, several of the district health centres and hospitals had been upgraded, but the equipment supplied to them remained unused. For instance, nearly 23 blood gas analysers costing around Rs. three crore remained unused and the Government now had to spend Rs. 60,000 per analyser to get them back into working condition. Mr. Thimmappa said the Pulse Polio programme was a big success with the achievement being nearly 100 per cent. The first phase of the programme was conducted on January 5 with the one-day programme being extended for two more days. Nearly 71 lakh children were covered. The second phase would be held on February 9. The achievement this year was higher than last year's 93 per cent. On the steps being taken by the Government to prevent the spread of epidemics in summer, the minister said the State had received Rs. five crore from the Centre for supplying preventive medicines to the district hospitals. The Government would provide a matching grant to this contribution from the Centre. "Although summer is yet to set in, the State Government has already commenced work in this direction in view of the drinking water scarcity in various parts of the State," he added.
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