Mayawati govt sacks over 1,000 doctors for absenteeism

NEW DELHI: UP chief minister Mayawati on Friday showed the Union health ministry how to deal with absentee doctors, a serious menace in rural Indiaby sacking 1,058 doctors for dereliction of duty.

According to principal health secretary Pradeep Shukla, the doctors were absent from duty for months and even years. The state government is now in the process of undertaking a recruitment drive to appoint 2,500 new doctors to meet the requirements.

The menace of absconding doctors is a serious problem facing the Union health ministry. Though they draw regular salaries, many hardly ever visit the community or primary health centres.

An earlier ministry report had said while only 6.3% of the posts for doctors may be vacant on paper, nearly 67% of doctors who were enrolled remained absent from duty.

Shukla said the exercise to detect the errant doctors was initiated by the UP government more than a year ago, following which notices were issued by the directorate of medical and health services to each of the defaulters. Some of the doctors were found to have drawn salaries for months after they absconded from duty, he added.