Government doctors go AWOL

Even as government medical colleges in the state grapple with the problem of staff shortage, 65 associate professors and lecturers have been served notices for unauthorised absence from duty.

 

According to a Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) notification, 12 associate professors and 53 lecturers from various government medical colleges in the state have gone “missing”. Grant Medical College has been the worst hit, with 23 lecturers not attending duty. Some have been absent for as long as nine years, but no action has been taken against them.

 

Most “missing” faculty members owed sums ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs5 lakh to the government, DMER sources said. They had been asked to pay up their their dues to the state government within 30 days or face legal action. Dr Anjali Lele, associate professor, Surgery, Government Medial College, Aurangabad, owes the state Rs5 lakh, while Dr Sanjay Rathod, associate professor of Anatomy, Government Medical College, Nanded, owes Rs2.3 lakh, the sources said.

 

They said Dr SV Mahaja, associate professor of Pathology, Grant Medical College, had been absent from duty since 1997. Dr RG Dhawle, associate Professor, Medicine, Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College, Yavatmal, last came to work in 2004. DMER sources pointed out that most doctors did not return after they got lucrative jobs abroad or in prestigious hospitals outside the state.