Could there be possibility of corruption involved in appointments of Senior Residents in Medical Hospitals in Delhi
Could there be possibility of corruption involved in appointments of Senior Residents in Medical Hospitals in Delhi
While all of us do talk on corruption, poor
medical facilities, expensive medical treatment etc., there is another area
which possibly is being ignored is the appointment of medical fraternity to
serve the Government Hospitals specially in Delhi. While the Government of
Delhi seems to be working very hard for improving medical services in Delhi, it
seems to be either ignoring the possibility of corruption in the appointments of the
Doctors in the Hospitals or not addressing the issue if known to the authorities.
The
present AAP-led Delhi government came to power, hinging primarily on their
promise to end corruption, bring in transparency in government functioning and
thus change the way of politics. “Hum Rajneeti badalne aaye hain” was one of
the popular slogans of the time. Healthcare initiatives have so far included
free medicines and tests, reigning in private sector by forcing them to reduce
costs, and implementing a DAK scheme to ensure speedy surgeries in private
hospitals at the cost of taxpayer. What surprises me, however, is that there is
absolute silence when one talk about transparency in appointment of government
doctors. There is rampant nepotism and corruption in these appointments and it
is something that is very well-known within the medical community. There is
feedback on the subject from the talks with medical fraternity. It is generally
observed that while the Governments have all been talking about shortage of
Doctors when we all do talk about poor medical facilities in Government
Hospitals, there also seems to be number of Doctors appearing for interview as
and when even a single vacancy is notified. Both seems to be contradictory
either there is a shortage of Doctors or there is a shortage in the job
vacancies. Number of messages on social media remains inattentive.
Take
for example, the senior resident doctors (SRs), who are the driving force of most
of the government hospitals in Delhi. If one were to analyse all the senior
resident appointments made in the hospitals, one would easily feel the
corruption at play. Merit is, of course, not given any importance. You could
have graduated and post-graduated from a top government college of the country,
have a huge list of publications, awards, clinical skills and knowledge and yet
fail to be selected. Interviews are advertised and held just for the sake of
formality. “Jugaad” works. It could mean having your father as a doctor working
in government or private sector, or a bureaucrat working in the government or
having somebody who knows a Minister. Such people often “put in a word” for a
particular candidate and ensure their selection. Money to obtain a post in the
hospital is quite well known within the medical fraternity and the amount often
runs into lakhs for a three-year Senior Residency post. It is hard to believe that
such things might be happening without
the knowledge of the government. What then is the reason for AAP’s silence on
the issue? Why have no steps been taken to bring transparency in the
appointments? How would ill-trained doctors appointed by corruption provide
good and skillful healthcare to patients? How would these doctors be empathetic
towards the plight of patients? For the past two years, there have been talks heard on
conducting centralized appointments for senior resident doctors in Delhi based
on a written test. However, they are just talks and there seem to be no signs
of any such thing happening in the near future. Will AAP finally wake up from
the slumber?
The post is being tagged to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and efforts would also be to send an email to Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi who has been dedicating himself for a corrupt free administration in Delhi.
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