35 specialists from 8 districts shifted to medical colleges

CIVIL SURGEONS HAVE BEEN ASKED TO RELIEVE THE DOCTORS FROM DISTRICTS FOR 15 DAYS

The Punjab health and family welfare department has shifted 35 medical officers (MOs) of eight districts to three government medical colleges of the state for 15 days in view of the Covid surge.

These MOs, who are specialists of anaesthesia, medicine and paediatrics, have been asked to report at government medical colleges in Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot with immediate effect.

Nineteen doctors have been asked to report in Patiala, 10 in Amritsar and six in Faridkot. Of the 35 medical officers shifted, 11 are from Patiala district, six each from Amritsar and Fatehgarh Sahib, four from Tarn Taran, three from Faridkot, two each from Barnala and Muktsar and one from Moga.

The order of their transfer was issued on Saturday by the director, health and family welfare department, Gurinderbir Singh. The order directed the civil surgeons concerned to relieve the medical officers with immediate effect considering the Covid-19 pandemic in Punjab. Thirteen of the shifted doctors are specialists in medicine, 12 in anaesthesia and 10 in paediatrics.

One of the doctors, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “Instead of recruiting doctors against the vacant posts in the state, the government has started shifting them mostly from rural areas. This will impact health services in rural institutions, which are already suffering due to shortage of doctors.”

Tarn Taran civil surgeon Dr Rohit Mehta said: “Tackling the Covid situation is the department’s top priority at this point. We can manage with other doctors in the districts.”