In an unprecedented move, about 1,000 government doctors working in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits on Tuesday received letters assigning them poll duty as Presiding/Assistant Presiding Officers for the ensuing elections. The doctors were asked to report for training classes at the Osmania Medical College (OMC) Auditorium, Koti, on April 4.
Agitated over the unprecedented assignment, the doctors from OMC (about 400), Gandhi Medical College (300), Niloufer and various hospitals and medical colleges brought the issue to the notice of Director of Medical Education Dr. G. Shantaram who, in turn took it up with Principal Secretary (Health) L.V. Subrahmanyam.
The Principal Secretary spoke to Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal about the goof-up and pointed out that as per the election manual, doctors are exempted from election duty as they come under emergency services category. He also took up the issue with GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar.
When contacted, Mr. Subrahmanyam said the election authorities would look into the matter and ensure that the decision was revoked. He said he had made it clear to the CEO that doctors, nurses and auxiliary nursing staff could not be drafted for election duty. Agreeing that it was an unprecedented move, he pointed out that some hospital superintendents also received the orders and regretted the goof-up. “They had months to plan in advance. I do not know how it happened,” he said.
Enquiries revealed that even an officer/doctor as senior as the Director-Public Health Dr. Swarna Aruna Kumari got the orders drafting her for election duty. Telangana Doctors Association (TDA) office bearers Dr. Praveen and Dr. Ravi Babu (Gandhi Medical College) have condemned the government move .
