JAIPUR: Some doctors are working as ‘extras’ for years. A surgeon has been working for 36 years at Jaipur’s Kanwatia Hospital since October 1985. His name is among the list of 934, who have been identified as extra doctors by the health department.
A surgeon has been working as an ‘extra’ doctor at Ajmer’s Satellite Hospital since June 2008. A psychiatrist has been posted at SMS Hospital since 2010.
Not only in hospitals in Jaipur, but also in dispensaries, ‘extra’ doctors have been deployed. At Adarsh Nagar dispensary, an MBBS doctor is posted since 2015. At Gangauri Hospital in Jaipur, the health department has named 16 doctors as ‘extra’. Thirty-one doctors at Jaipuria Hospital are categorised as ‘extra’, while there are 10 ‘extras’ in Kanwatia Hospital.
According to the list prepared by the health department, Jaipur has 289 ‘extra’ doctors, the highest deployed in a district, followed by Ajmer where 89 doctors have been identified as ‘extra’, Jodhpur (76), Jhunjhunu (60), Sikar (54), Alwar (54), Kota (46), Bikaner (44), Udaipur (34) and Dausa (29). The districts which are at the top of the list with extra doctors are those which are either bigger cities or close to Jaipur.
However, one of the most tribal populated districts of the state, Pratapgarh, has no extra doctors, Dungarpur has 8, Banswara 9, while districts which are most difficult for working due to geographical location such as Jaisalmer has 3 ‘extra’ doctors while Barmer has 5.
Health minister Parsadi Lal Meena had taken up the issue of extra doctors in the state assembly, while pointing out that a lot of hospitals and community health centres in the state have shortage of doctors, while some hospitals and community health centres and dispensaries have ‘extra’ doctors. He has expressed the need to ensure that the doctors are evenly distributed for ensuring that the patients should not face difficulties in getting the treatment.
