Medical officers attached to PHCs boycott outpatient services

Protest scrapping of 50 % quota in PG courses for doctors serving in rural areas

Boycotting outpatient services, Medical Officers attached to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the district thronged the Collectorate here on Wednesday and protested against the scrapping of 50 % reserved quota in postgraduate (PG) courses for doctors, who served in rural areas from this academic year.

Medical services in rural areas were hit as more than 50 medical officers, who were members of the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers’ Association staged the protest, stating that they were aggrieved by the Madras High Court order, scrapping the quota and urged the State government to file an appeal against the order.

Dr. B. Manikandan, district general secretary and Dr. V. Ebinezer, organising secretary of the association who led the protest said the medical officers were motivated to serve in rural areas to seek admission to PG courses under the 50 % quota and the scrapping of the same would demoralise doctors to serve in rural areas.

There were times when most of the 57 PHCs in the district had no doctors and only after the State government introduced the quota system, doctors came forward to serve in the PHCs, they said.

Presently, more than 130 medical officers, including women doctors, were serving in the PHCs in the district, they said.

The High Court order came as a rude shock for them, they said.

Even after it became clear that they should take the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) to seek admission to postgraduate courses, the government maintained that they would be entitled for the 50% quota, but the court order dashed their hopes, they said.

The doctors urged Collector S. Natarajan to forward their representation to the government for necessary action.