The Doctor Is Never In

The search is on for 800 government doctors, ‘missing’ for more than a decade. Posted in UP’s villages, they have been drawing salaries all this while. Cracking the whip finally, the department of health has released a list of absentee doctors. A few have now returned to work but most are still playing truant. It’s no secret that these doctors have either grabbed lucrative foreign assignments or taken up full-time private practice. In UP, of the 11,400 sanctioned posts, about 1,500 are lying vacant. The health department has asked its joint directors (JDs) to play detectives to verify the presence of doctors in all government hospitals, community and primary health centres. The JDs will submit their reports by December 20.