SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Sept. 3: Government doctors in the State are upset over their deployment at two different hospitals in a week.
National Health Mission (NHM) Managing Director (MD) Umashankar Singh has issued a notification in which 34 medical officers have been directed to attend duty three days each at a community health centre (CHC) and Sadar hospital respectively in a week.
According to the notification, in Bokaro Dr Tulika Rani has to attend duty three days at the primary health centre (PHC) Gomia and the next three days at district Hospital Bokaro in a week. Distance between Gomia PHC and Bokaro sadar hospital is 42.4 km. Similarly, in Dhanbad Dr Sandhya Tiwari has to attend SLNT hospital Dhanbad and Topchachi CHC three days each. The distance between SLNT Hospital Bankmore and Topchachi CHC is 45 km.
In Deoghar, Dr Renu Kumari Sinha has to attend PHC Jasidih ( Deoghar) and Sadar hospital Deoghar three days each in a week. Similarly in the Dumka district, Dr Dilip Kumar Thakur has been deployed at CHC Gopikandar and CHC Kathikund.
The Jharkhand Health Service Association (JHSA), the frontal organization of government doctors and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have strongly protested the double deployment order of the health department and have questioned the authority of the NHM managing director to issue such an order.
“ Dr Mritunjay Singh, medical officer Pakur and outgoing secretary, Jamshedpur IMA chapter, said that only the secretary of health department can issue such a notification. “ The NHM managing director has no authority to take out such an order,” he said. He has urged the state IMA and the JHSA to call an immediate meeting over the issue as the matter is sensitive.
IMA executive member Dr Sehgal of Jamshedpur said all medical officers should protest the order as the notification of NHM managing director is against tradition and not practical.
A medical officer, who has been deployed at two places, said that the distance between two hospitals is more than 40 to 50 km. The notification has not mentioned the vehicle and residential arrangements. In such circumstances, a doctor would face hardship to attend duties. One of the 34 medical officers said that they would move the court if the order is not rectified.
