The department of Health and Family Welfare has switched on mission mode to increase strength of doctors working for the State Government and helping the department in making health projects meant for poor percolate down to the last man in the queue. The department has increased sanctioned posts of doctors as it also plans to end doctors’ drought in the State before the end of current financial year.
The department is likely to fill all vacant positions by end of March in the financial year 2015 through recruitments made by Jharkhand Public Service Commission. Notably, the department had sanctioned 2,800 posts apart from NRHM and currently around 1,000 vacancies are to be filled and against that the department has posted 300 doctors. Thus, the number of vacant positions has come down to 700 and likely to be filled before the end of the financial year.
“Recruitments on all vacant positions will be completed by the end of March. We have written to the JPSC to recruit doctors. Besides, we would create additional posts before March,” said Minister Health, Ramchandra Chandravanshi.
The department would be creating additional posts, around 500, for doctors for the upcoming primary health centres, community health centres in the State. The additional centres have been completed and the process to purchase new equipments is likely to be initiated in January, 2016.
“Around 90 PHCs, CHCs are ready where doctors would be posted. So we will create additional posts for those centres. We have started the process of equipment purchase and it will be completed as soon as possible,” maintained Chandravanshi.
A senior official confided that while on one hand number of sanctioned posts has been increased on the other hand recruitment are being made at regular intervals to fill vacancy of doctors. Of the 700 vacancies, recruitment process of 268 specialist doctors is in final stage by JPSC and upon completion the department would be left with around 300-400 posts to fill.
Incidentally, the department had to adopt liberal attitude to allow doctors in the mid of their education the option of completing studies before starting contribution at the place of posting. The department has narrowed the gap of recruitment processes since 2009 and also asserted that shortage of doctors is not as acute as it was earlier.