Appointment hope

A cabinet approval to the Bihar Health Services (Appointment & Service Conditions) Rules, 2013 for regular appointment of doctors in government hospitals has cheered up the health fraternity.

“The cabinet endorsed the rules on Thursday according to which doctors in government hospitals would be appointed on a regular basis. Even the doctors who are at present working on contractual basis would be given priority in the regular appointment,” cabinet secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters.

There are around 8,700 sanctioned posts of regular doctors in Bihar against the 2,800 doctors working at present. There are around 300 sanctioned posts in Patna that includes primary health centres (PHCs), sub-health centres, referral hospitals, sadar hospitals. Around 250 doctors are working against the 300 sanctioned posts at present. The figure does not include the doctors working at Patna Medical College and Hospital and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital.

Stating that there would be no written test for selection of regular doctors, Mehrotra gave a break-up of 100 marks on the basis of which appointments would be made.

According to the rules, 50 marks would be given for an MBBS degree, 10 marks for PG degree such as doctor of medicine, 25 marks for work experience in government hospitals and 15 marks have been earmarked for interview, the secretary said.

Welcoming the decision, Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA) general secretary Ajay Kumar said: “We welcome the decision but at the same time we also demand from the government that it should come out with advertisements as soon as possible to fill up the 4,000 regular posts of doctors in the state. The government’s decision would help in regularising the job of the contractual doctors. It would not serve any purpose if the government comes out with vacancies in bits and pieces of 500 or 1,000 posts.”