Promotion orders for 632 doctors issued

This is the first major announcement of the Aam Aadmi Party government after the Delhi High Court’s ruling that held Lieutenant Governor as the administrator of the city and his approval is necessary and essential regarding all major issues including service matters. 

“The promotion orders of as many as 632 doctors, which were pending since past several months, have been finally issued by the Delhi government on Monday. We have ordered the concerned officers to expedite the pending cases of promotion of doctors,” said Jain. 

The post on which promotions were given, comprises medical officers, non-teaching specialist grade-2 and grade-3. Further, out of 632, as many as 265 medical officers were promoted to senior medical officers. Similarly, 185 non-teaching specialist grade-3 and 182 non-teaching specialist grade-2 doctors were promoted to non-teaching specialist grade-2 and non-teaching specialist grade-1 posts respectively.

“The files related to these promotions were sent to the LG’s office from time to time. After consideration, all the cases were approved by the LG,” said a senior officer of the LG Secretariat. 

According to the health department, promotions of medical officers were pending since December 2013. Similarly, promotions of non-teaching specialist grade-3 and non-teaching specialist grade-2 doctors were pending since December 2011 and December 2015 respectively. All the promotions were in effect from their actual dates, said a senior health department official. 

The decision of the Delhi government is likely to quell the anguish of the medical fraternity who are often up in arms against the government for various demands related to pay, promotion and security. In one of the major achievements to minimise burden of patients in polyclinics and multi-specialty hospitals of the Delhi government, the latter has succeeded in treating around 95 per cent patients at its Mohalla Clinics who would have congested the big hospitals.  

The Delhi government is also working on a project to draw maximum doctors from managerial jobs and assign them clinical assignments to treat patients. The government has also formed a Public Sector Unit (PSU) for this purpose. Jain had also expressed his concerns over several issues regarding security of doctors in hospitals who have to face wrath of unruly kin and families of patients. 

“The senior doctors should be deployed in hospitals on a routine basis particularly during night hours. It’s easy for senior doctors to pacify patients,” suggested Jain at a Delhi Medical Association conference. The government has also started Centralised and online purchasing of drugs and medical equipment to expedite the process.