Shimla : Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has directed the health and family welfare department to amend the PG/SS policy to enable job trainee medical officers to pursue postgraduate courses and streamline recruitment of senior residents and tutor specialists in medical colleges across Himachal Pradesh .




Interacting with newly appointed medical officers on Wednesday, the chief minister said job trainee medical officers would be allowed to pursue postgraduate courses, including MD/MS and MDS , under the 66.6% quota reserved for in-service General Duty Officers (GDOs). After completing their courses, they would be required to serve the remaining period of their appointment as job trainees. The department was also directed to make appropriate provisions for their salary and emoluments during the course period.




Sukhu said postgraduate doctors qualified from PGI Chandigarh and AIIMS New Delhi would be eligible for appointment as senior residents/tutor specialists in state medical colleges against vacancies. Selection would be based on merit in MBBS and postgraduate examinations, without a written test or interview, under the 33.33% quota reserved for direct candidates. Govt would also introduce Geriatric Medicine Departments at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, and Dr Rajendra Prasad Govt Medical College, Tanda, in Kangra district. The chief minister said job trainee medical officers would receive all benefits available to GDOs from their date of appointment. Govt would also sympathetically consider exempting them from appearing in tests again for regularisation. Sukhu said strengthening medical education and healthcare services remained a priority. Robotic surgery had been introduced in four govt medical colleges, while doctors were being sent on overseas exposure visits to learn international best practices.




During the event, health and family welfare minister Colonel Dhani Ram Shandil (retd) said govt was working to improve healthcare services. He claimed that staffing levels in health institutions had increased from 35% of sanctioned strength during the previous BJP govt to around 80% under the present govt. Despite the discontinuation of the revenue deficit grant and financial constraints, Shandil said, the state govt was using its own resources to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and services.