Patiala, August 21
Medical officers-cum-lecturers at Rajindra Hospital are gearing up to fight against the authorities for ignoring them over the years. Medical officers said they were doing emergency duties, besides maintaining records of medical stores, bio-medical waste, Right to Information Cell, medical-legal cases and Central Registration office, which was responsible for the entire record of admissions, birth and death rate and preventable disease. They rued that they were still being ignored.
These medical officers, nearly 60 in number, have been teaching for 15 to 30 years but have not been promoted yet. They have been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Government Medical College, Patiala, for the past many years but they are not being provided any teaching experience certificate by the Medical Education and Research Department.
Expressing anguish, president, Medical Officers-cum-Lecturers’ Association, Rajindra Hospital, Dr Darshanjeet Singh Walia, said while the government was raising a false alarm that there was a shortage of teaching staff in the medical colleges and laying stress on direct recruitments, they were not being inducted into the teaching cadre despite years of experience.
“Though we are eligible for teaching and have been doing it for years, we have not been inducted into the teaching faculty because of the policies of the Medical Education Department. The government has not held the Department Promotion Committee meetings for eight years following which we have been sidelined,” he said.
General secretary of the association Dr Varinder Verma said while the teaching faculty was only doing the OPDs and taking classes, they were being made to slog day and night without any benefit. “We are the only ones who are doing emergency duties and don’t even get casual leaves, forget about summer and winter vacations. Even the paramedical staff and Class IV employees working with the teaching faculty get these leaves and we, despite doing 90 per cent work in the hospital, are being completely ignored,” he said.
One of the medical officers said though they were not supposed to take classes, they were still doing it for so many years. “Now that the government has increased the timings of medical colleges, the teaching faculty has asked us to prepare a roaster and take classes. Why should we take classes when the government is not even giving us experience certificates? The government needs teachers and we are eligible for it, but still they are adamant,” he added.
The Principal, Rajindra Hospital, Dr KD Singh, said the timings had been increased for the benefit of the students and patients and medical officers-cum-lectures should not have any issues.
“As far as giving teaching experience certificates and their induction into the teaching faculty is concerned, they are all higher level issues and we cannot do anything about it. Since they are already taking classes, they should continue to cooperate with us,” he added.
Medical officers-cum-lecturers at Rajindra Hospital are gearing up to fight against the authorities for ignoring them over the years. Medical officers said they were doing emergency duties, besides maintaining records of medical stores, bio-medical waste, Right to Information Cell, medical-legal cases and Central Registration office, which was responsible for the entire record of admissions, birth and death rate and preventable disease. They rued that they were still being ignored.
These medical officers, nearly 60 in number, have been teaching for 15 to 30 years but have not been promoted yet. They have been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Government Medical College, Patiala, for the past many years but they are not being provided any teaching experience certificate by the Medical Education and Research Department.
Expressing anguish, president, Medical Officers-cum-Lecturers’ Association, Rajindra Hospital, Dr Darshanjeet Singh Walia, said while the government was raising a false alarm that there was a shortage of teaching staff in the medical colleges and laying stress on direct recruitments, they were not being inducted into the teaching cadre despite years of experience.
“Though we are eligible for teaching and have been doing it for years, we have not been inducted into the teaching faculty because of the policies of the Medical Education Department. The government has not held the Department Promotion Committee meetings for eight years following which we have been sidelined,” he said.
General secretary of the association Dr Varinder Verma said while the teaching faculty was only doing the OPDs and taking classes, they were being made to slog day and night without any benefit. “We are the only ones who are doing emergency duties and don’t even get casual leaves, forget about summer and winter vacations. Even the paramedical staff and Class IV employees working with the teaching faculty get these leaves and we, despite doing 90 per cent work in the hospital, are being completely ignored,” he said.
One of the medical officers said though they were not supposed to take classes, they were still doing it for so many years. “Now that the government has increased the timings of medical colleges, the teaching faculty has asked us to prepare a roaster and take classes. Why should we take classes when the government is not even giving us experience certificates? The government needs teachers and we are eligible for it, but still they are adamant,” he added.
The Principal, Rajindra Hospital, Dr KD Singh, said the timings had been increased for the benefit of the students and patients and medical officers-cum-lectures should not have any issues.
“As far as giving teaching experience certificates and their induction into the teaching faculty is concerned, they are all higher level issues and we cannot do anything about it. Since they are already taking classes, they should continue to cooperate with us,” he added.
