With Telangana government planning to fill vacancies for more than 1,000 doctors in government hospitals across the state, the Junior Doctors Association are demanding that senior resident doctors who are serving in the government hospitals as part of their rural services should be given first priority while filling the vacancies.

Earlier in 2014, there were strikes and agitations by the junior doctors demanding higher pay package and better facilities in the hospitals and also they demanded the government to give priority in government jobs for those who served the rural services. JUDA had agitated for more than 6 months until the high court intervened and gave a directive to all the newly passed out doctors to go for compulsory rural services and at the same time asked the state government to take immediate steps to meet the justified demands of the doctors.

As part of this, now the Telangana Junior doctors Association (TJUDA) has demanded that the senior residents who have completed their one year rural services and have first hand experience in working in government colleges should be given priority in filling up the posts of doctors’ vacancies in the state. “As the government hospitals are already facing severe shortage of doctors, we are demanding the government to give a chance for the senior doctors who completed their rural services as they can aptly fill in the existing void as they are well acquainted with the needs and demands of the patients in the rural areas,” said Dr. G. Srinivas, president of TJUDA

Currently due to severe shortage of assistant professors, in the medical colleges it is becoming difficult to handle the existing postgraduates and also manage the load of the patients. “In the recent past due to the demonetization of the high value currency, the patient load has increased many folds and with lack of adequate doctors in the PHCs and CHCs, it is becoming tough for the existing medical staff to handle the patients. In view of this we demand the government to give a fair chance to the post graduate candidates who have already completed the one year rural service to fill the vacant posts,” said Srinivas.