The health services of Uttarakhand suffering from acute shortage of doctors would get a boost in numbers as the Public Service Commission has shortlisted 421 medical officers. The Public Service Commission has sent the list of these doctors to State Government for appointment. The Commission had conducted the recruitment for 747 posts of Medical Officers but only 650 candidates had applied for them.
As per the policy, all these newly-recruited doctors would be posted in mountainous areas of the State where the health services are practically nonexistent due to absence of doctors. The sorry state of health services in Uttarakhand can be gauged from the fact that in the basic positions of Medical Officers (MO) and Senior Medical Officers (SMO) about 80 per cent posts are lying vacant. Out of sanctioned 1,227 posts of MOs, 935 are vacant while 524 posts of SMO are vacant out the sanctioned 640 posts.
The departmental data suggest that out of 126 sanctioned posts of Surgeons 84 are lying vacant, similarly 99 posts of physicians, 57 posts of orthopedic surgeons, 98 posts of radiologists, 86 posts of pathologists, 110 posts of gynecologists, 37 posts of cardiologists and 30 posts of dermatologists are lying vacant in the State health services.
The medical experts believe that with State Government planning to implement Departmental Assured Career Progression (DACP), the health services have become more attractive for the new doctors. The general secretary of Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS), Dr SK Goswami, told The Pioneer that new doctors would strengthen health services of State.
It also remains to be seen as how fast the State Government acts on the recommendation of PSC and issues appointment letters to the selected doctors. In the last recruitment drive 90 per cent of the doctors selected by the PSC eventually did not join the services as the Government took a long time to offer appointment letters to them.