Kozhikode: House surgeons to join rural posting only after getting clarity on appointments

KOZHIKODE: House surgeons who have just passed out from medical colleges are told to serve in various rural health centres have decided not to join duty till the state health department provides clarity regarding their salary, posting and government registration.

House surgeons under the banner of

Kerala House Surgeons Association

decided not to join duty citing lack of clarity in the issued order.

The Kerala House Surgeons Association (KHSA) cited that the government has issued an order on April 29 to post house surgeons passed out from various medical colleges this year for a period of three months at rural health centres to strengthen government health institutions for the effective containment of Covid-19.

KHSA said that they have completed their one-year internship as house surgeon on March 31 and now waiting for registration from

Travancore cochin

Medical council to practice as doctors. They have also worked 20 more days as intern after the state government extended the period in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

The state government has decided to utilize the services of house surgeons at periphery level of health services by posting them to various rural health centres . The health department has issued an order about posting 980 house surgeons at various health centres across the state on the basis of list forwarded by the principals of Government Medical Colleges of Kozhikode,

Thriuvanthapuram

,

Alappuzha

,

Kottayam

, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Manjeri and

Kannur

. The health department has directed the house surgeons to report at the office of the medical officer in charge of respective health Centres along with relieving order from respective medical colleges with identity proof.

Dr Abid Ali Khan

, state president of KHSA said that they have completed their internship and are awaiting registration from Travancore cochin Medical council to begin our practice as doctors. "We are skeptical about the posting as many registered and experienced doctors have already come forward voluntarily to take up the service to help the government in its fight against Covid-19," he said. .

"The order on rural posting for three months just cited the list of names of the house surgeons and name of the health centres where they are posted. The order also mentioned the posting as ‘intern’ and we are not willing to take up rural posting as interns. No other details about posting were made in the order issued by the director of health services. We have raised our concerns about the lack of clarity about the salary, permanent registrations and job terms before the DHS and the health minister. We will take a decision about joining duty at the health centres only after getting clarity from the government," he said.