Hiring of NRHM doctors resumes after a month

After a month, the state Health Department has restarted the process of appointment of doctors under NRHM in the districts, which was suspended following the alleged abduction of the CMO of Gonda by former minister of state for revenue and rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh last month to force him to change the list of selected AYUSH doctors.

Since Vinod Kumar Singh alleged that the selections had been unfair, Health Minister Ahmed Hasan had ordered a probe and recruitment across the state was stopped.

"There were no written orders to stop the process of selection of doctors in the districts. However, after the Gonda incident, the CMOs were asked verbally to suspend the process for the time being. Last week, the CMOs were asked to continue the process once again," said a senior officer in the Health Department. The CMOs were instructed to begin the process in the meeting held at the state programme management unit, NRHM, last week.

Sources said most of the districts submitted the report of the probe ordered by the health minister and things were found to be in order. Those districts where reports are still pending, including Gonda, Bahraich, Siddharthanagar and Sultanpur, have been asked not to restart the process of appointment of doctors yet.

The doctors are being appointed by the CMOs for the Child Health Guarantee Scheme under NRHM, which is due to be launched in December. "It had to be launched on November 14, but has been delayed as the process of recruitment was incomplete," said a health official.

Under the scheme, where all children below the age of 14 will be screened for various diseases, two doctors and two paramedical employees have to be posted in each of the 820 blocks of the state. Because of the non-availability of MBBS doctors, both AYUSH and BDS doctors are to be hired for the scheme on contract basis for a year under NRHM.

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