Shimla, May 31
Even a surety bond of Rs 15 lakh for not serving in Himachal after doing postgraduation from here has not been able to hold back doctors in the hill state as 145 cases of recovery of the amount are pending with the Health Department which is struggling to fill vacancies of specialists.
Despite doctors, who enrolled themselves for MD course in two medical colleges in the state, being made to fill up a bond where an amount of Rs 15 lakh has to be paid in case they do not serve for at least five years in Himachal after completing the course, 145 such cases are pending with the government.
With some of these cases being very old, the government has given up pursuing recovery of the money from the doctors who left without honouring the commitment to serve here for five year.
“So far only about Rs 10 lakh has been recovered in the 145 cases and now it is being felt that it is better not to pursue the cases, as the expenditure on contesting these cases in court is working out to be very expensive,” admitted a senior officer of the Health and Family Welfare Department.
Sources said while Rs 10 lakh had been recovered, almost Rs 6 lakh had been spent on paying the fees of lawyers.
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been crippled for want of specialists at its First Referral Units (FRU). In fact, Himachal could not meet the basic requirement of appointing six specialists at these FRU’s and at some places there are just two to three doctors.
Even as the state government is taking pride in the fact that the number of postgraduation seats have gone up from a mere 39 to 111 during the last three years, the government is struggling to get specialists to serve at its various health institutions, resulting in huge shortage.
The number of MD seats have gone up from 39 seats to 82 at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and 29 at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Kangra.
While there is no bond money in case of the MBBS course, the lure of hefty pay packages and better work environment are ensuring that many of these doctors work in corporate hospitals till they do their PG. As such, Himachal is facing a shortage of about 250 MBBS doctors.
Even a surety bond of Rs 15 lakh for not serving in Himachal after doing postgraduation from here has not been able to hold back doctors in the hill state as 145 cases of recovery of the amount are pending with the Health Department which is struggling to fill vacancies of specialists.
Despite doctors, who enrolled themselves for MD course in two medical colleges in the state, being made to fill up a bond where an amount of Rs 15 lakh has to be paid in case they do not serve for at least five years in Himachal after completing the course, 145 such cases are pending with the government.
With some of these cases being very old, the government has given up pursuing recovery of the money from the doctors who left without honouring the commitment to serve here for five year.
“So far only about Rs 10 lakh has been recovered in the 145 cases and now it is being felt that it is better not to pursue the cases, as the expenditure on contesting these cases in court is working out to be very expensive,” admitted a senior officer of the Health and Family Welfare Department.
Sources said while Rs 10 lakh had been recovered, almost Rs 6 lakh had been spent on paying the fees of lawyers.
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been crippled for want of specialists at its First Referral Units (FRU). In fact, Himachal could not meet the basic requirement of appointing six specialists at these FRU’s and at some places there are just two to three doctors.
Even as the state government is taking pride in the fact that the number of postgraduation seats have gone up from a mere 39 to 111 during the last three years, the government is struggling to get specialists to serve at its various health institutions, resulting in huge shortage.
The number of MD seats have gone up from 39 seats to 82 at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and 29 at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Kangra.
While there is no bond money in case of the MBBS course, the lure of hefty pay packages and better work environment are ensuring that many of these doctors work in corporate hospitals till they do their PG. As such, Himachal is facing a shortage of about 250 MBBS doctors.
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