Special medical board (SMB) to decide the fate of transferred doctors

DEHRADUN: The fate of all the doctors who have refrained from joining their new postings will be decided by a Special Medical Board (SMB) comprising seven senior medical experts from both the health and medical education department.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting held in the chief medical officer’s office in Dehradun on Thursday which was headed by the officiating director general of health department Dr DS Rawat.

Talking TOI, he said, “We want only valid cases to get relief. We will not allow anyone to stay back by providing false documents. Today 11 doctors approached the board and all of them cited either having medical problem themselves or their immediate family member suffering from some medical issue.”

Now, the SMB will determine all the grievances on a case-by-case basis and accordingly take a final decision, added Rawat.

The state government in June had issued transfer orders to 240 doctors out of which a whopping 40% have not joined their new locations. Meanwhile, a handful of the doctors have gone on leaves while a dozen of them have approached the high court.

According to the data available with TOI, 182 doctors have been relieved from their present locations of which 138 have joined their new postings while, the remaining 44 doctors are unwilling to take up new posts.

Meanwhile, the court has also directed all the doctors who had approached it for resolution in the matter to knock the door of health department for considering their transfer cancellation case rather than taking a legal course.