it is up to the ministry
to lay down firmly an accountability structure and ensure that doctors
are obliged to comply with the same
Ensure accountability of delinquent government doctors
The public health service cannot be improved to a desired level unless the health ministry becomes able to strongly deal with the phenomenon of doctors not attending to their duty stations properly. In the rural areas, delivering health service in public health complexes is seriously hampered because of doctors frequent absenteeism.
Doctors absenteeism is not only a problem of the health centres located in the rural areas. Even in the public health facilities located in cities and town, this is prevalent. Doctors paid from the public purse are often found more interested to serve patients in private places where the commission business is rampant.
Quoting the sources of the health ministry itself, an English language daily reported on Saturday that cases of doctors not staying in their work stations and altogether leaving their jobs have increased in number. Obviously, these doctors are graduates of the heavily subsidised government-run medical colleges. In fact, compared to the private medical colleges, the students in the public institutions spend almost nothing.
But these truant and fleeing doctors seem to have no qualms of conscience as they do not feel morally obliged to serve the nation as an act of repayment as it bears nearly all their education expenditure. It is still truer for those doctors who go abroad on scholarships but captivated by the material prospects of life there, no more return home little bothering about even submitting the resignation letters.
Now it is not understandable why the health ministry faces difficulty in recruiting new doctors to their posts. If they do not return after the completion of their leave or end of the term of their scholarships, the ministry can serve notice to them in case of their delay and where they fail to respond reasonably, they can straight be terminated from their jobs without paying the terminal benefits. The health ministry must be swift in its actions in these matters.
The public health complexes in the rural areas are places where mostly the poor people go to receive health service and these places cannot remain unserved by doctors for a long period. However, for this the health ministry just cannot shy away from its responsibility by pointing to doctors absenteeism. In the final analysis, the ministry is the ultimate recruiting authority and it has to ensure that its appointed doctors are discharging services in their earmarked places, and properly so. It is up to the ministry to lay down firmly an accountability structure and ensure that doctors are obliged to comply with the same.
