New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to submit an affidavit within a month in the court appraising how it planned to fulfil the requirements of doctors at the district levels.
The bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh observed that the situation "does not paint a good picture of the availability of medical services at district levels" which as per the authorities is due to the paucity of qualified doctors. "It is stated in the affidavit as well as the annexures that in pursuance to the requisition sent on 22.03.2021 for recruitment of doctors through state public service commission against 3,620 posts, only 1881 doctors could be selected, leaving a vacancy of about little under 1800 doctors and in the meantime, some may have also retired over the last about one year. It has also been stated that in some specialities the problem is greater i.e. gynaecologist, anaesthetist, paediatrician and General Physician," noted the court in its order.
The state informed the court that to deal with the vacancy, it is recruiting directly at level 2 of the hierarchy in state government hospitals, has floated a scheme called "ambulance at call" to provide access to rural areas, converted district hospitals into medical colleges and hospitals, introduced quota system for those who are already working at district hospitals to acquire specialisation in different medical fields while they will simultaneously be working as doctors with some relaxation of marks for them.
