The PCMS Doctors Association on Sunday urged the state government to cancel its July 2012 notification under which the required service period for admission to post-graduate courses by a PCMS (Punjab Civil Medical Service) doctor was increased from three years to first four years and then to six years. After a meeting of the body,Dr Gangandeep Singh Shergill,a senior member of the association,said we have prepared a memorandum which will be submitted to the Minister for Health and senior officials of the ministry. While we appreciate the state governments concern about acute shortage of doctors in the government-run hospitals which in turn is adversely affecting the supply of medical facilities to the people of the state,we also want to bring to the notice of the state government one of its own rulings which is working against its own mandate, he added. Dr Shergill said,Government-run hospitals in Punjab need close to 225 specialists. Now no post-graduate doctor is ready to join a government job because of low income. A PG doctor prefers to join a private hospital or start his or her own practice. By increasing the service condition to six years,the department has slowed down the process of in-service doctors opting for doing PG courses. This in turn will mean that the seats reserved for PCMS doctors in colleges will also remain vacant. These seats will be converted into general quota and these doctors will not join government service. On the reasons behind the governments decision to increase the number of service years and its ramifications,he said,The government feels that after doing post-graduation,doctors leave government service for more lucrative jobs which is not correct. Only 5 per cent do that. Then the government wants the doctors to spend more time in rural areas. When the conditions to serve in rural areas have already been fixed then this rule too does not apply to the course years. Moreover,if a doctor gets to do his PG after six years of service,he or she will be promoted as an SMO within two years of his or her joining back. The government will once again lose the services of a specialist. Therefore,they need to revise the notification.
