Ayurveda docs shown the door

After having served in the remotest of areas and worst of medical conditions, hundreds of Ayurvedic doctors have been shown the door by the state government since last week. They were replaced by MBBS doctors whose services were recently regularised. 

According to the Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical Officers (MAGMO) Ayurveda, out of the 1,200 Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) posted throughout the state, about 700 doctors were given their relieving letters in the last one week.

“We have served in the most difficult of places where MBBS doctors have always refused to be posted,” said Dr Pramod Sonawane, president, MAGMO, Sindhudurg. “We have never hesitated to serve even in the Naxal-hit areas,” he said. Many doctors from Nagpur, Nashik, Latur, Akola and Thane were sacked.

“About 27 primary health care centres in Satara are handled by only two-three doctors,” Sonwane added.

The BAMS doctors said that hundreds of posts in other divisions of the state were lying vacant. “However, government chose to render us jobless rather than filling those vacant posts with new recruits,” said Dr Arun Kohli, divisional president, MAGMO. 

Meanwhile, the government washed its hands off the matter saying that the recruitments were ad-hoc. “All the doctors who have received their relieving letters were appointed on contract basis,” said Dr DS Dakhure, director general health services, Maharashtra. “We have still assured them that as per requirement they could be absorbed later,” he said. Dakhure agreed that out of the 7,000 posts, about 20% were still vacant.