Facing shortage,govt goes all out to woo doctors

Since no competitive examination is required to fill the doctor’s posts ,the cabinet had on August 28 taken the posts out from the purview of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and asked the department of health to recruit the doctors on its own.

The department,in its efforts to woo specialist doctors,decided to facilitate them further by offering interested candidates walk-in-interviews for appointment.

The first ever walk-in-interview is scheduled on September 17,and the department is in overdrive to advertise the same. Large posters have been put up in the civil secretariat.

The walk-in-interviews will be a regular feature now. The department will update the status of vacant posts every month on its website and the special selection committee constituted by the government will hold interviews on the 16th of every month.

The state government,like several other states,is facing an acute shortage of doctors in government hospitals. While there are enough MBBS doctors who want to join government service – mainly with an aim to get the benefit of reservation in MD courses in state’s medical colleges – there are hardly any specialist doctors who want to work in government hospitals..

In the past there have been instances when the government went through the whole process of appointing specialist doctors who did not finally join the duty. Out of the recently appointed 180 specialist doctors,only 50 are said to have joined.