Tripura Govt. unable to hire doctors on permanent payroll

AGARTALA:

The Northeastern state of Tripura has the highest COVID-19 fatality rate, prompting the state health department to recruit 75 doctors contractually.

However, a majority of the doctors have left after being denied permanent payroll.

“They call us frontline warriors, so is the Army and the BSF and other armed forces. Can you send them to the battlefront with a temporary job?” said a doctor who had recently quit.

We may note that the state government has not recruited any junior doctors since 2018, even as 844 vacancies have been lying vacant.

“I passed out from Tripura Medical College in 2018. My father passed away that year and I had to take up a contractual job at the same hospital for some time. But the pay was way less than any regular doctor and the schedule was so hectic that I left the job, hoping government vacancies would be announced soon like in the previous years. Two and a half years on, I am still waiting,” said an unemployed doctor.

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Expressing support and solidarity towards the demands of unemployed doctors, the general secretary of the All Tripura Government Doctors Association (ATGDA), Dr. Rajesh Choudhury, said, “The condition of the healthcare workforce is very poor here. We have been asking the government constantly to start new recruitments. But we know the government doesn’t have sufficient funds. We shall reiterate our demand soon.”