ES Reporter 

ITANAGAR, Jul 2: The Junior Doctors Association (JDA) on Thursday demanded immediate cancellation of the appointment order of seven contractual doctors serving under National Health Mission (NHM) to the post of regular Junior Specialist (JS) under the Health Department issued on May 29 citing deserving candidates had been ignored.
In a press conference held today, Dr. Paya Liyak informed that on 19 June  2020, Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) has advertised for recruitment of 137 posts of Junior Specialist doctors in local newspapers.
"Through the APPSC notice, it is learned that previously Health & FW department vide an order dated May 29, 2020, has appointed seven contractual doctors who were serving under NHM as contract specialists directly to the post of junior specialist, " Dr Liyak added.
Calling the appointments as "biased and unfair", he stated that the appointment was made in violation of the guidelines prescribed for recruitment of JS by AP Health Service Rules 2000, which states that recruitment of Junior specialist should be done through viva test or written examination to be conducted by APPSC.
He demanded cancellation of the appointment order and  7 vacant seats be added to the  137 vacant posts advertised by APPSC on June 19 for free and fair competition.
"This is the first time in the history of Arunachal Pradesh that contractual doctors are being appointed directly to regular JS post causing chaos and disorder in the medical civil seniority list," said Dr. Takam Sakter. 
He lamented that appointment of a contractual doctor directly to the JS post without conducting an interview will be injustice towards private postgraduates and regular GDMOs with  PG degrees who secured the post after clearing the APPSC examination. 
He specifically referred to the case of the Department of Gynecology in which 5 out of the total 9 seats were given to NHM contractual doctors, leaving only 3 vacant seats for APST candidates and 1 for general competition.
"We want to know what kind of emergency occurred on the basis of which appointments were made and vacant seats were not recommended for recruitment through APPSC. If doctors were urgently needed, then why not GDMOs with PG degrees were appointed instead of contractual doctors," he questioned.
Dr Takam also questioned why the concerned authority did not discuss the shortage with the available working doctors before issuing the appointment order.
The Junior Doctors Association  requested the state government to cancel the appointments and add the 7 vacant seats to existing 137 posts to be recruited through APPSC for fair competition.

Regularisation of Junior Specialists as per Cabinet recommendation: Health Secretary

ITANAGAR, Jul 2: Responding to the anomalies regarding recruitment of Junior Specialists, Health Secretary Dr. P Parthiban has clarified that regularisation of seven doctors was made after the State Cabinet felt there is a shortage of specialists. 
“They were regularised as per the recommendation made during the Cabinet meeting,” Secretary Health disclosed, adding that the Cabinet had previously examined the availability of human resources, especially specialists in the district hospitals. He also informed that the state at present needs more specialists, primarily gynecologists in hospitals spread across 25 districts including CHCs, and state government is giving top priority to fill up all the vacancies of specialist doctors. 
“Recently, a few GDMOs were given charge as functionalist specialists who couldn't become specialists due to seniority issues,” he said, mentioning that disbursement of their remuneration has also been started by the Health Department. 
The Health Secretary further reiterated that the state government is working on a clear vision and trying to accommodate more specialists to empower the district hospitals, CHCs, and PHCs.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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