Refusal by as many as 250 selected and appointed doctors to join duty in remote areas in the trouble torn, underdeveloped and generally an un-disciplined State with prevalent demonstrated arrogance among the well to do JK youth, is alarming but not surprising. There is hardly a day when medical services in the State are not in news for ‘unpleasant’ reasons. Be it be death of infants, absence from duty, shirking timely medical care, buying spurious drugs, illegal abortions, causing death by negligence or cases of moral degradation of rape by deceit, harassment of spouse and allegations of molestation up to the ministerial level.
All doctors are morally bound by the Hippocratic Oath historically taken by physicians and physician assistants. It requires a new physician to swear, upon a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. Of historic and traditional value, the oath is considered a right of passage for medical practitioners in many countries; nowadays the modernised version of the text varies among them. The text of oath though revised thrice does not include terms of ‘serving any where assigned and travel there by any directed means over land sea or sky’ as in case of the armed forces doctors.
Taking strong note of the doctors who have allegedly refused to join their duties in remote areas of J and K state, the government has issued warning to them to be ready for termination in case they fail to join by Monday. Government has decided to terminate services of 250 doctors who have “refused” to join their duties in remote areas of the State, Minister for Health Taj Mohi-ud-Din told a news agency.
Although a firm handling is essentially required, it has not been made clear if such condition (of serving in remote areas) was made clear when the jobs were advertised or else while issuing appointment orders. If not then it may end up as yet another case of rampant mismanagement in the Medical Department. Most of these areas are ill-equipped, badly connected and terror infested, despite normalcy claims of the Govt. Some junior doctors complain of poor to non existing functional facilities in remote areas like transport, basic accommodation even for lady doctors, safety, medicines and infrastructure.
