Jaipur: The health department Saturday directed 678 govt doctors, absent from duty without authorisation for years, to personally appear before the directorate by May 5 or face disciplinary action.A senior official said the department issued a revised list of doctors who have remained absent for long periods on May 1.Any doctor named in the list who wants to submit an objection or representation regarding joining duty must appear in person before the health director and file it within the deadline.Earlier, the department issued the list of 697 doctors, but 19 doctors appeared to join duty.The department warned that if no objection or representation is submitted by May 5, termination proceedings will begin under Rule 86(4) of the Rajasthan Service Rules, 1951, and Rule 29 of the Rajasthan Service Rules, 1963.Additionally, the department will initiate recovery proceedings under the Public Demands Recovery Act against doctors who completed postgraduate studies under the in-service quota and submitted service bonds.Action will be taken to cancel their registration with the Rajasthan Medical Council, consequently disallowing them from medical practise within Rajasthan. The department said responsibility for the consequences would rest individually with the doctors concerned.Officials said the doctors were voluntarily absent for long periods without notice or approval from the competent authority after transfer, posting while awaiting orders, or posting after completion of postgraduate courses. Such conduct, the department said, amounts to violation of service rules, defiance of superior officers’ directions, and gross negligence of official duty.The action has exposed a deeper staffing problem in Rajasthan’s govt health system. Though these doctors continue to be shown in official records as serving employees, many have been missing for years, with some absent for more than two decades.The list includes specialists from gynaecology, paediatrics, radiology and surgery, along with general medical officers. Because they still occupy sanctioned posts on paper, the govt has not been able to begin fresh recruitment against those positions. As a result, hospitals appear adequately staffed in records, while patients face shortages of specialists and long waits for treatment.
