Arunachal: JDA demands cancellation of 7 NHM contractual doctors

Itanagar- The Junior Doctors Association (JDA) on Thursday demanded immediate cancellation of the appointment order of 7 National Health Mission (NHM) contractual doctors to the post of regular Junior Specialist (JS) under the Health Department issued on May 29 citing deserving candidates had been ignored.

In a press conference on Thursday, Dr. Paya Liyak (member)  informed on June 19 .2020 Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) has advertised   for recruitment of 137 posts of Junior Specialist doctors in local newspapers.

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 “Through the APPSC notice, it is learned that previously HFW dept. vide an order dated May 29.2020, has appointed 7 contractual doctors who were serving under NHM as contract specialists directly to the post of junior specialist, ” Likak added without going through APPSC interview.

Calling the appointments as “biased and unfair”, Liyak stated that the appointment was made in violation of the guidelines prescribed for recruitment of JS by AP Health Service Rules 2000, which states that recruitment of Junior specialist should be done through viva test or written examination to be conducted by APPSC.

He demanded cancellation of the appointment order and  7 vacant seats be added to the  137 vacant posts advertised by APPSC on June 19 for free and fair competition.

” This is the first time in the history of Arunachal that contractual doctors are being appointed directly to Regular JS post causing chaos and disorder in the medical civil seniority list, ”  said Dr. Takam Sakter.

 Takam lamented that appointment of a contractual doctor directly to the JS post without conducting an interview will be injustice towards private postgraduates and regular GDMOs with  PG degrees who secured the post after clearing the APPSC examination.

He specifically referred to the case of the Department of Gynecology in which 5 out of the total 9 seats were given to NHM contractors, leaving only 3 vacant seats for APST candidates and 1 for General competition.

“We want to know what kind of emergency occurred on the basis of which appointments were made and vacant seats were not recommended for recruitment through APPSC. If doctors were urgently needed, then why not GDMOs with PG degrees were appointed instead of contractual doctors, ”he questioned.

Takam also questioned why the concerned authority did not discuss the shortage with the available working doctors before issuing the appointment order.

The JDA  requested the state government to cancel the appointments order and then add the 7 vacant seats to existing 137 posts to be recruited through APPSC for fair competition.

Responding to anomalies in recruitment to the post of Junior Specialist, Secretary Health, Dr. P Parthiban clarified that the regularisation of 7 NHM was made after an acute shortage of specialists was felt by the state cabinet.

” They were regularised as per recommendation given by cabinet meeting, ” disclosed Parthiban adding that cabinet had previously examined the availability of human resources especially specialists in District hospitals.

The Health Secretary also informed that the state today needs more specialists primarily gynecologists in hospitals spread across  25 districts including CHCs and the government is giving top priority to fill all the hospitals with specialist doctors.

” Recently Few GDMOs were given charge as functionalist specialists who couldn’t become specialists due to seniority issues, ‘ he said adding that the health department has also started giving remuneration to them and trying to accommodate more specialist.

He said that state government is working on a clear vision and trying to accommodate more specialists to empower our district hospitals, CHCs, and PHCs and state government is working in for creation of more post. Secretary added.

He further said that the matter is sub-judice and can’t comment more.