To enhance its services in the rural parts, the state public health department has started the process of filling up 5,600 vacant posts in the next two months. These vacant posts range from class one to class three. This is the biggest recruitment process initiated by the department in the past three years, state public health minister Suresh Shetty said on Monday. “Of all the posts to be filled, 1,881 posts belong to class one. This includes 110 posts for general physicians, 289 for child specialists, 105 for surgeons, 211 for gynecologists, 408 for anesthetists, 42 for orthopedics, 28 for ophthalmologists, 4 for radiologists, 14 for neurologists, 27 for blood transfusion and 643 posts for MBBS doctors,” Mr Shetty said. The public health minister stated that the rest of the vacant posts are for 20 different categories comprising lab technicians, nurses, blood bank assistants, paramedics etc. Mr Shetty further said, “It is for the first time that the health department has taken the initiative to fill up so many vacant posts. The department aims to provide standard and speedy service to the common people of the state.” Meanwhile, the department is working on a war footing to complete the process within two months. “Advertisements related to the recruitment process have been published in the local newspapers. The last date for the online submission of forms is between October 10 and 25. We are trying to complete the whole process within the next two months,” an officer from the public health department said. The Directorate of Health Services (DHS) hopes to be able to fill maximum number of the vacant posts that it has advertised. “Several cadres of employees will be appointed to fill the advertised posts. However, finding specialist doctors is the most difficult task. Of the 1,000 vacant posts for doctors, we have 500-600 posts for specialists alone,” said Dr Satish Pawar, director, health services.
