The health services in Uttarakhand seem to be on ventilator itself as 75 per cent posts of Medical officers are lying vacant in the State. The State has 1,842 sanctioned posts of medical officers (MOs) in the Medical, Health and Social Welfare department and against these posts, only 460 MOs are working in the State.
It is an open fact that doctors do not want to join the health department of the State as they fear that they would be sent to remote areas. In the entry level position of Medical Officer, 1,210 sanctioned posts are there and out of these 836 posts are lying vacant. The young doctors are consistently refusing to accept this position as they prefer to work in a private hospital or work as private practitioner in the cities. The situation is even worse in the MO Grade-I as only 86 doctors are working against 632 sanctioned posts.
The MO and MO grade-I form the backbone of the health services in the State and the staggering number of vacant posts are creating serious problems for the functioning of health department. The problem is even worse in the mountainous areas where the patients bear the burnt of absence of doctors. Hansraj Singh, a resident of Pauri, said that only four doctors are working in the district hospital of Pauri, adding the condition of Primary health Centres (PHCs) is even worse.
The experts cite the lack of proper transfer policy of the state as the primary cause of reluctance of young medical graduates to join the health services of the state. The doctors fear that they would be posted for years together at remote areas as the government does not have a transfer policy. One serving MO told this correspondent that the problem could be solved by adopting a rotational system of transfer policy.