Doctors shun jobs at government health centres in rural Maharashtra

NAGPUR: The state government has been setting up medical facilities in remote areas, but very few doctors are willing to join there. The process for filling up more than 450 posts of doctors at various government facilities in the division on contractual basis for a period of 11 months is under way at present. But, the response is very low.

Committees headed by respective district collectors in Chandrapur, Gondia and Gadchiroli are struggling to get enough number of doctors. Civil surgeons of the respective districts, who are statutory member-secretaries of these committees, told TOI about the conditions in their districts.

A common picture is seen everywhere — limited number of doctors appear for interview and get appointed. Secondly, very few out of the appointed doctors join their respective centres. Thirdly, many of those who join terminate the 11-month contract midway and leave for better paying job in private hospitals. State government has recently increased salaries of MBBS doctors working on contract from fixed Rs45,000 to Rs60,000. But, this move too has failed to attract doctors towards services in rural areas.

In Gadchiroli, total 138 vacancies are to be filled. “We have decided to conduct walk-in interviews every Monday. However, this was third consecutive Monday when not a single candidate turned up for interview,” said Dr Anil Rudhe, Gadchiroli’s civil surgeon. As vacancies are still there, officials have decided to continue interviews until the posts are filled. Conditions are similar in Chandrapur and Gondia where appointments at public health centres are still pending.

Dr Pramod Khandate, civil surgeon of Bhandara, said the situation is better in his district. “Thanks to good connectivity with Nagpur, many candidates appear for interview every Monday here. Out of seven vacancies for medical officers, we have appointed four till date. However, seats at public health centres (PHCs) are still vacant,” he said. Situation is the same in Wardha where PHCs are facing dearth of doctors.

In Nagpur district, many opportunities are available in private hospitals for MBBS graduates. As a result, attrition rate is more. “We always get candidates for interview in Nagpur, but most of them leave early. Their government experience helps then getting better paying jobs in the city in corporate hospitals. So, in Nagpur, interviews and appointments become a continuous process,” said district civil surgeon Dr Devendra Paturkar. Interviews are held every alternate Tuesday at Nagpur.

Deputy director of health for Nagpur division, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, said contractual appointment was introduced to deal with shortage of doctors in government hospitals. “Instead of recruiting at divisional level, we preferred to form district-level committees to ensure recruitment of local candidates. But, as shortage of doctors still persists, government must introduce some alternative measures soon,” he said.