Date:07/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/07/stories/2008010765970400.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

No move to raise retirement age of doctors

Staff Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram: The government has decided not to raise the retirement age of doctors in the Medical Education Service this year.

However, there are some medical colleges where certain crucial departments do not have doctors senior enough to be promoted to the post of professors. The current heads of these departments will be given an extension in service by one year. The decision was taken following a meeting between Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy and representatives of the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) on Sunday.

The KGMCTA will identify such departments in all MCHs and submit a list to the government. The retirement age of doctors in medical colleges is 55 years now and the government was thinking of extending the retirement age in order to retain the service of experienced senior doctors in the public sector and to ensure that there was no shortage of senior faculty in medical colleges.