Bhubaneswar: The government has urged the Odisha Public Service Commission to relax age norms for recruitment of regular medical officers in the rank of Group A (junior branch) of the Odisha Medical and Health Service Cadre for 2017-18.

The relaxed norms would be applied to medicos working with the government as ad hoc doctors. In a letter to the commission, health secretary P.K. Meherda urged that age-norm relaxation should be applied to medicos working as ad hoc doctors in the state.

The panel has advertised for appoint 2,173 doctors.

Meherda said: "A number of ad hoc doctors have been recruited in peripheral hospitals of the state according to Odisha Reservation of Vacancies rules. Many of them are still on the job, as they could not qualify in the commission'd subsequent exam as fresh batch of doctors coming out of medical colleges were in an advantageous position. Those who preferred not to join the ad hoc post also got time to prepare for the exam. This has left doctors serving on ad hoc basis in a disadvantageous position. This is unfair competition."

Meherda added: "The commission should provide additional weightage of three per cent for each completed year of service subject to a maximum of 15 per cent marks to ad hoc doctors while recruiting medical officers."

The official also urged the commission to relax the upper age limit for ad hoc and contractual doctors working in state hospitals by five years.

"This provision has not been incorporated in the commission's advertisement for recruitment for 2,173 doctors in 2017-18," he said. The government also urged the commission to calculate age limit of the candidates from this January instead of last year.