There are 705 government doctors in Bihar who have been absent from work for more than six months and still continue to get their salary, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has said, declaring that the government will take strict action against them.
“We are going to take stern action against around 705 doctors who are absent for over six months, and drawing government money every month,” said Yadav, who holds the health portfolio.
“A doctor is absent for 12 years, and drawing government money, the file has come to me now. Some are absent for five years and two years. My government has decided to take stern action against doctors who are absent for six months,” Yadav told news channel NDTV; the video clip was shared by Tejashwi Yadav’s party, Rashtriya Janata Dal on Twitter on October 5.
He regretted that many doctors posted in rural areas didn’t work there and instead continued to practise in urban areas.
The minister added that the health department was also working on a referral policy for patients so that people were not referred to hospitals in state capital Patna as a matter of routine but were first treated at health facilities at the district level. Yadav added that efforts were being made for proper health infrastructure in districts.
Yadav’s comments against absentee doctors come against the backdrop of a mandate requiring health workers to mark their attendance via biometric machines which has been opposed by the Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA).
Around 7,000 doctors across Bihar’s district hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres and additional primary health centres abstained from outdoor patient department duty as a mark of protest on Thursday.
BHSA is also demanding that the government fix daily and weekly duty hours of doctors, fill the 45% of posts of doctors that have remained vacant, ensure their safety and discuss concerns with doctors before enforcing the biometric attendance system.
