Bihar mulls capping study leave of govt doctors to one
PATNA: The Bihar health department is working on a proposal to allow its doctors study leave only once in their service for pursuing higher studies in courses approved by the National Medical Commission (NMC) at established government medical institutions, said officials familiar with the development.
Presently, government doctors do not have any restriction on the number of study leaves and medical programme they wish to apply or pursue while in service.
The move is aimed to reduce the shortfall of doctors, as nearly one-fourth the 8,000 working strength of doctors, against a sanctioned strength of 11,700 (approx), are on leave for higher studies, maternity, child care or illness, thus reducing their effective strength in the Bihar health services (BHS) cadre to around 6,000 doctors. Nearly 50% doctors among those on leave are on study leave, said officials quoted above.
“Doctors posted in peripheries now apply for study leave to undertake some course or training programme either within the country or abroad and proceed on long leave. We are currently working on a proposal to entertain requests for study leave only once in the service tenure of a government doctor for courses recognised by the National Medical Commission in established government institutions,” said an official requesting anonymity.
With 1,570 doctors available, Bihar faces around 70% shortage among doctors in the specialist cadre, who have obtained three-year post graduation (PG) degree like the doctor of medicine (MD) or the master of surgery (MS) after completing the basic medical undergraduate (MBBS) course.
As many as 3,523 posts of specialists are vacant against a sanctioned strength of 5,093. Similarly, 238 posts of general duty medical officer (GDMOs) are vacant against a sanctioned strength of 6,629 in the BHS cadre.
The vacancy of government doctors would have been even higher had Bihar not recruited over 7,000 doctors, of which 1,783 were specialists, between 2020 and 2021.
A total 10,747 doctors have been appointed in BHS since 2007.
To tide over the shortage of specialists, the Bihar government, for the first time, had fully sponsored 27 GDMOs for DNB (Diplomate National Board) course, a full-time three-year post-graduation level programme, equivalent to MD or MS, to different medical institutions across India, with full salary, around six months back.
The Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA) expressed its reservation over any such government move.
“It is in the government’s interest to promote doctors pursue higher studies because of the huge backlog vacancies existing in the specialist cadre. If the government were to restrict study leave to one during the service tenure of a doctor, it will mean that a GDMO, who joins the BHS with the basic MBBS degree, cannot even think of pursuing the three-year super-specialisation degree (DM - doctorate of medicine or M.Ch - master of chirurgiae), after completing the three-year PG degree,” said Dr Mahesh Prasad Singh, president of the BHSA.
“It is ironical that instead of acting on our request to create 10% leave reserve post to bridge the gap of medical practitioners on study leave, the government is mulling a proposal to put a cap on the number of study leave of a doctor,” he added.
The state government had sacked around 100 government doctors, while another 400 (approx) had resigned, following action by the health department after the then deputy chief minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, revealed in 2022 that over 700 government doctors were either on leave or absent for a prolonged period of time.