The Doon hospital administration has asked Cardiologist Dr K B Joshi to apply for voluntary retirement in the prescribed format.

Dr Joshi had written a letter to the hospital administration in which he had expressed his wish for voluntary retirement.  The letter was seen as a preemptive measure on part of the senior doctor to stonewall any attempt by the health department to transfer him.

The Principal Medical Superintendent (PMS) of Doon hospital, Dr R S Aswal told The Pioneer that Dr Joshi is being asked to submit the request of voluntary retirement in proper format. He said that being a senior doctor Dr Joshi should know the procedures.

This step of Doon hospital administration has now put the ball back in the court of the doctor who would now have to make a final call of weather sticking with the system or leaving it. However Dr Joshi had refused to link the letter of voluntary retirement with his possible transfer. He said that he had done 22 years of Government service and feels to leave it now.

It is worth mentioning here that the doctors of state medical and health services that are firmly entrenched in Dehradun and other plain areas for more than 10 years are coming under the ambit of new transfer policy. The new Director General of State health services Dr R P Bhatt is keen to shift these doctors and appoint them in hilly areas. With transfers on cards these doctors have started making all possible efforts to prevent their imminent shifting. In the past  many doctors left Government job than packing their bags for assignment in hilly areas.