When people turned the pages of their newspapers on Tuesday, they found a full page advertisement placed by the Health Department of the Kerala Government, listing the names of 140 government doctors who were missing in action.

It wasn’t the cocktail of chikungunya, dengue and other ills in the state that had taken a toll of the doctors. As the ad itself said, these white coats had left their posts to go find more lucrative offers in private hospitals in India or abroad, especially in the Gulf. Lists of more such absconders are being prepared for action to be initiated against them.

The lineup is significant. No less than 21 of them were posted in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Kottayam and Idukki—the districts worst hit by chikungunya and other fevers that have killed over 200. Most, like Dr S Sajjad of the Community Health Centre in Veliyanad, left their posts four or less years ago. Civil Surgeon Dr Leela Manjiri of the Community Health Centre at Vakkaom hasn’t been seen at the health centre since 1993, but is still on government rolls. And the last time Dr Preethi Hareendran, assistant surgeon at the General Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, did some work there was more than five years ago.

The result: as Kerala reels under the assault of epidemics, the Government has to plead private practitioners, the Navy, NGOs for help.

Says Dr Sunny Orathil, president of the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA): “The Government recently interviewed and appointed 280 young doctors. Only 65 joined, and many who did left within weeks to join private hospitals.”

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