Andhra Pradesh: AP sacks 51 senior doctors for prolonged absence from work

Vijayawada: As many as 51 doctors at various government medical colleges have been dismissed from service as they were not reporting for work for long durations.

Health minister Satya Kumar Yadav announced this here on Wednesday. He said these included eight associate professors, 41 assistant professors and two tutors. Some of them did not report for work for nearly six years.

They were terminated from the service under the relevant provisions of AP Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964. Those who remain absent for more than a year can be dismissed on the assumption that they are alternatively. engaged elsewhere.

The minister said they had been served show cause notices and given adequate time to respond but they didn’t. He warned of stern action against those who failed to do their duties and remained absent without permission for a long period.

The teaching faculty members in the medical colleges were recruited through the regular process by issuing notifications but some of them were remaining absent as they were preoccupied with their own individual initiatives such as private practice. This created a situation of a lack of availability of doctors in government hospitals.

Senior doctors get higher pay in private hospitals, but they avoid quitting government service so as to finally claim benefits and pension for life. Successive governments failed to take action, health department sources said.

Out of the terminated doctors, eight were associate professors while a majority were assistant professors attached to the medical colleges located in Kadapa, Anantapur, Ongole, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Rajamahendravaram, Eluru, Nellore and Markapuram.

The sources said three more professors were not attending to duty for a long time and action would be initiated against them soon. Show cause notices were served on five more professors, and based on their response, action would follow.

Meanwhile, the state government would take up recruitment of faculty members in the government medical colleges soon under a zero vacancy policy.