The hospitals located in the remote and mountainous areas of the State can get services of few specialist doctors soon as the Medical Health department is working on departmental promotion lists.
According to the departmental rules, the newly promoted doctors would be posted at the vacant positions in the remote and mountainous areas. The Director General of Medical and Health services Uttarakhand Dr G S Joshi said that the doctors after the promotions would be sent to the vacant posts in the mountainous areas of the state.
The departmental sources revealed that after the merger of cadre of General and specialist doctors last year many specialist doctors were denied promotions in the last departmental promotion. In the new promotion list 88 specialist doctors are expected to be given promotion to the rank of Joint Director. Apart from the senior doctors the promotion of Medical Officers to Medical Officer Grade I is also on the cards. The promotion and their subsequent transfers of specialists to the mountainous areas which are reeling under acute shortage of specialist doctors would give some reprieve to the people of these areas.
At present the Districts like Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Chamoli are more affected by the shortage of doctors.The situation is so bad that there is not even a single Physician in Chamoli, Bageshwar, Champawat and Haridwar districts similarly there are no Surgeons and Radiologists in Tehri and Rudraprayag districts. Uttarkashi, Tehri, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh districts are being serviced by only one physician.
There are only 27 serving physicians in the Medical health department of state while the total requirement in the state is of 129 physicians. Pauri which is the home district of Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi and political stalwarts like former Chief Ministers Major General (Rtd.) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” is being serviced by only one physician. In the District Hospital “Male” of Pauri district there are only four doctors against a sanctioned strength of 24 doctors, while in the District Hospital “Female”, Pauri there is only one doctor.