Why not recruit docs with better perks: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  15.12.2021

The Gujarat high court on Tuesday questioned the state government why it does not recruit specialist doctors by offering them higher perks.

The court raised the question during the arguments on petitions filed by 452 post-graduate medical students who are practising now, but had approached the court after the state government threatened them with criminal action for not reporting on Covid duty during the second wave of the pandemic.

They had offered to pay Rs 10 lakh bond amount, but the state government was unrelenting then. However, it changed its stance later and started accepting bond amount and freed 114 such petitioners from their bond because they paid in lieu of serving in rural areas for one year as part of their bond conditions.

On shortage of doctors that led the government to pressurise the bonded doctors to take up Covid duty, the high court opined that the government can offer them better salaries to attract and retain them for rural services. To this, the government submitted that it has offered them salaries on par with private hospitals, but the specialist doctors were not ready to join the duty. Those who joined also left after few months. The HC completed hearing on the petitions filed by 452 bonded doctors and reserved its verdict.