Odisha To Rope In Retired Doctors To Bridge Staff Shortage

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to extend the tenure of contractual doctors by two years.

Talking to mediapersons at the three-day conference of the chief district medical officers (CDMOs) here on Thursday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Das said he has suggested to the CDMOs to meet all the retired doctors in their respective districts by July 15 on this matter.

“The major problem in the health services in Odisha is that few doctors are posted at the primary health centres (PHCs). This is due to the acute shortage of doctors. The state government has a specific budget allocation for the appointment of doctors. Besides, the CDMOs and the districts collectors are also empowered to appoint retired doctors and para-medics as staff as per the guidelines of the National Health Mission (NHM),” the minister said. “In this context, I have directed the CDMOs to find out the number of retired doctors in their respective districts and appoint them as contractual doctors,” he added.

Das also said the CDMOs were asked to extend the tenure of these contractual doctors from 68 years to 70 years.