CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (TNMOA) has condemned the health department’s decision to redeploy junior resident (JR) posts across medical colleges in the state.
Aimed at strengthening cancer care in government tertiary care hospitals in the state, the health department recently issued a GO for creation of 59 new posts in various institutions. However, doctors said that they were not new posts but surrendered from various medical college hospitals under the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DME).
In a statement, the TNMOA said that instead of strengthening the public health system, this exercise will reduce the available workforce, increase the burden on existing staff, and compromise the quality of care provided to lakhs of patients who depend on government hospitals every day.
“If the state’s objective is to expand PG medical education, new posts with fresh financial sanction should be created. This is mere redistribution, which results in net loss of service strength and further strain on critical departments,” it said.
The TNMOA urged the government to immediately withdraw the GO on redeployment of JR posts and instead sanction new posts with appropriate PG seats in the 11 new medical colleges.
In another GO on October 3, Director of Medical Education Dr R Suganthy Rajakumari instructed the deans and heads of medical colleges to relieve assistant professors and senior residents from various departments in six colleges from the state for redeployment of nine posts for creation of speciality departments at the Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital, Guindy.
