The Directorate of Health Services will issue a revised list of postings under the specialty/administrative cadre on Monday after considering the grievances of doctors and looking at the anomalies that might have crept in while implementing the new system.
Director of Health Services M.K. Jeevan said the grievance cell which has been working round-the-clock at the directorate had received about 300 to 400 complaints of which only 10 per cent may be considered as ‘genuine' cases.
Grievances
Most of the grievances were, in fact, requests given by doctors on various grounds that they be retained in their present station, while about 10 per cent had specifically pointed out anomalies in the seniority list and these would be looked into, he said.
Nearly 1,200 doctors across the State were being transferred as part of the implementation of the specialty and administrative cadre in the health services. However, alleging anomalies in the seniority list, the Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association had directed its members not to join their new posting or to go on leave after joining.
However, as on Friday, almost 60 per cent of the doctors have joined their new places of posting.
“The specialty/administrative cadre in the health services is a major change that is being implemented and it is something that the KGMOA has also been pursuing for the last 15 years. It is only natural that there will be some problems and anomalies when such a major shift is happening. The timing of the mass transfer of doctors had to be now only because we had to complete the implementation of the new system by putting out a provisional list within the deadline that the High Court had specified,” Dr. Jeevan said.
“Majority of the doctors have been promoted and most of the transfers are within the district itself, except in the case of some senior posts. Why should a doctor who is working in the General Hospital here require seven days time to join his new post at Peroorkada Government Hospital? The fact is that none of the doctors want to stir from their current place of posting,” he said.
The specialty/administrative cadre will ensure that all major hospitals from taluk hospitals upwards will now have the same pattern of doctors. Unlike in the previous years, all hospitals will now have all specialties. As the transition is a huge process, there are bound to be some difficulties in the functioning of hospitals in the first few days because of the delays in doctors joining their new stations.
Arrangements made
However, senior Health Department officials said they had made several arrangements anticipating some practical problems when doctors were shifted en masse. “In many major hospitals, there may be doctors who do not come in the new system and we have issued orders that they be retained in their posts till the specialists join and then to re-deploy them to the primary health centres and community health centres.
The DMOs have also been told to re-allocate doctors in their district as per the requirement temporarily, so that hospital functioning is not affected.
