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| J&K has 1596 vacancies of doctors, 2885 of para-medicos | | While Jammu has 24 vacancies of medicos, Srinagar gets 25 more than its sanctioned strength | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 10: J&K State, which does not provide better medicare facilities to its people, surprisingly has 1,596 vacancies of doctors and 2,885 of para-medicos in its various hospitals.
As per a reply filed by the Government before a High Court division bench of Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Hasnain Massodi, 10 districts of Jammu region have 878 vacancies of doctors against the sanctioned strength of 2015. Of them, Rajouri district has the maximum vacancies of 137 followed Poonch which has 136 vacancies.
Jammu district has 24 vacancies, Doda 129, Kathua 125, Kishtwar 58, Ramban 74, Reasi 62, Samba 45 and Udhampur 88.
Kashmir has 583 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 2152. Kupwara district has the maximum vacancies of 143 followed by Baramulla which has 119 vacancies. However, Srinagar district surprisingly has 219 doctors against the sanctioned strength of 194, ie 25 more than its requirement.
There are 72 vacancies in Pulwama district, 19 in Ganderbal, 41 in Bandipora, 60 in Kulgam, 20 in Shopian, 63 in Anantnag and 71 in Budgam.
Kargil and Leh have 76 and 59 vacancies of doctors against the sanctioned posts of 145 and 136 respectively.
There are 1,623 vacancies of para-medicos in Jammu region and 1,262 in Kashmir against the sanctioned strength of 5,171 and 6,371 respectively.
The HC directive in this regard had come after it had taken a suo-moto notice of a media report that not a single doctor was available in 15 PHCs (primary health centres) of Udhampur district and that sweepers were managing the sub-centres at many places due to the shortage of medicos and para-medicos.
The bench, after going through the reply filed by the state, directed health secretary to identify the vacant posts of Medical Officers and the para-medical staff in every hospital of the state as per the sanctioned strength and address to the concerned department to initiate the recruitment process of such posts within one month.
When the PIL came up for hearing, the bench observed that this court had on July 14 last directed the advocate general to file the status report indicating sanctioned strength of doctors and para-medical staff in each district hospital and PHCs as also the details of doctors and para-medical staff actually working, and the number of posts which are vacant after getting report from the concerned Chief Medical Officers of all the districts in J&K. The advocate general furnished the list of sanctioned posts and number of posts which were vacant as on July 30, .2015.
The bench observed that the advocate general sought more time to get further details regarding the Medical Officers who are undergoing Post-Graduate courses or doing registrarship courses. A status report was filed by the Health Department's Deputy Secretary, stating that 1719 doctors are serving apart from 772 doctors who are presently working under National Health Mission (NHM) and 499 doctors are undergoing Registrarship/Senior Residency/demonstratorship against deputation. 137 doctors are on unauthorized absence and some are in leave reserve posts. Action has already been initiated to proceed against the doctors who are unauthorisedly absent. After receiving notices 32 doctors have joined in the respective directorates. It is also stated that SRO 202 of June 30, 2015 was issued by GAD, prescribing the mode of selection and recruiting agency have to be addressed to fill up the posts at the non-gazetted level on or before August 31, 2015 and the entry level gazetted posts are to be referred to GAD for being notified and it had already referred the recruiting agencies to fill up the vacancies. The affidavit filed by the Deputy Secretary of Health department is not giving a clear picture about the actual vacancies and how much time is required for filling up the vacancies both in the category of Medical Officers and the para-medical staff. In such circumstances, this court is inclined to issue directions considering the fact that right to health is a fundamental right guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution of India to all the citizens which the government is bound to take care of and without qualified doctors and para-medical staff not appointed in the hospitals, the patients will not be in a position to get proper treatment which will cause serious hardships and sometime untimely deaths.
The court observed that this court while disposing of LPAHC No 36/2015 (State & Ors v. Sajad Ahmad Dar) on July 30, 2015 had noticed that even in the jails, there are no Medical Officers and para-medical staff to give treatment to the inmates in the jails. This is a serious matter which has to be taken care of by the respondents.
Upon this, the bench directed health secretary to identify vacant posts of Medical Officers and the para-medical staff in every hospital of the state as per the sanctioned strength and address to the concerned department to initiate the recruitment process of such posts within one month from the date of receipt of copy of this order.
The court also directed the recruitment agencies to commence recruitment process and complete the same within a period of three months from the date of request being received from the concerned department so that all the hospitals in the state will have Medical Officers and the para-medical staff to give treatment to the patients who are approaching government hospitals. If any laxity is found in filling up the vacancies and if it is noticed by the court that unqualified persons are giving treatment to any patient, the same would be taken with all seriousness and this court may impose compensation to such patients against the state. It is also made clear that no unqualified person should be allowed to treat the patients on the ground of non-availability of the Medical Officers/para-medical staff in any of the government Hospitals/Sub District Hospitals/Primary Health Centres of the State.
With these observations, the bench disposed of the case. (JNF) |
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