Amidst healthcare challenges, the state announces the recruitment of over a thousand doctors for primary health centers, with incentives for pandemic service, while pharmacists advocate for recognition.
The Health Minister, Ma Subramanian, announced that a notification for the recruitment of 1,251 doctors for primary health centers (PHCs) across the state will be released in a week. In a recent development, 1,021 doctors were appointed to PHCs in 20 health unit districts. The minister highlighted this achievement, emphasizing that the process had faced delays due to various court cases.
During the pandemic, the state rewarded doctors with additional marks for their service in government hospitals. For the recent recruitment of 1,021 doctors, the incentive ranged from two to five marks based on the duration of their service during the pandemic period.
Despite the incentive, not all doctors who served during the pandemic received appointments. The Health Minister assured that the incentive system would be extended for the upcoming recruitment of 1,251 doctors.
Addressing the issue of transfers, the minister urged the newly appointed doctors to commit to working in the assigned districts for at least a year, discouraging requests for transfers to urban areas. He revealed that 11,215 transfers had already been made through a transparent counseling process.
However, the incentive provided to doctors will not be extended to other healthcare professionals such as pharmacists. The state is in the process of recruiting 983 pharmacists, but they have raised concerns and moved to court demanding incentives for their pandemic-period service. The Health Minister clarified that the incentive would not apply to pharmacists as they did not directly work with patients.