The Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) has opposed the Odisha government’s move to enhance the retirement age of the doctors from 60 to 62 and threatened to resign en masse if the decision is not revoked. However, 50 other doctors have started a signature campaign, supporting the move.
The government believes that by increasing the retirement age, it would be able to fight the shortage of doctors in the state, which may occur when around 350 doctors retire from service in 20013-14. The new order will allow them to stay back.
The OMSA believes that the move would be a wastage of public money, as the 60+ doctors are not involved in patient care and new blood is needed to fill up the vaccum. Around 1,000 positions of doctors are still lying vacant. Apart from that, 220 doctors are either on prolonged leave or unauthorized absence. The government had recently recruited around 400 doctors on ad hoc basis. But, only 90 of them have joined service.
