Jaipur: Absentee government doctors are under scanner of the health department. A list of 208 doctors has been released by health department which are absent from duty for a long time without any information.Among the doctors who are absent for a long time are medical officers, junior specialists paediatrics, junior specialist general surgeon and dental medical officers.A health department official said that among those who are absent are most of them who have done MBBS, while there are doctors who are specialists in orthopaedics, gynaecology, radiologists and paediatricians. The government is facing a challenge to bring down number of maternal and infant deaths in the state. But as some doctors, especially gynaecologists and paediatricians, are remaining absent, it has become even more challenging for the health authorities to bring down maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality rate in the state. Taking it seriously, the health department has issued letters to all chief medical health officers to take necessary steps for taking disciplinary action against them.The official said that Dr VK Mathur, director (rural health), health department has issued the list of absentee doctors. He has written to principal and controller of all government-run medical colleges, all hospitals attached to medical colleges, chief medical health officers of all districts and all principal medical officers of district hospitals, informing about the absentee doctors. He has also sought information from them on what action has been taken against the doctors who are absent from duty for a long time.It has also been mentioned in the letter that the doctors who are absent were selected through Rajasthan Public Service Commission and also through Rajasthan University of Health Sciences.At a time when the health department is facing shortage of doctors, doctors’ absenteeism is adding more problems for the health department and patients. According to an estimation, there are at least 20% posts of doctors that are lying vacant in the state, in government-run clinical establishments. Most of the doctors who are found absent have postings in rural areas in primary health centres and community health centres. Also, there are some doctors who are absent from duty, who have posting in district hospitals and sub-district hospitals.

Stay updated with all the Latest Jaipur headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.