Nearly 200 government doctors on leave failed to report to work at height of Uttarakhand floods, says report
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Almost 200 Indian government doctors will lose their jobs after they failed to report for duty during the devastating floods that hit the country's northern Himalayan region last month, the Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
The floods in the popular Hindu pilgrimage region of Uttarakhand killed 580 people, yet more than 3,000 are still missing and thousands have been injured. Authorities and aid workers are still struggling to reach remote villages that have been cut off by landslides, and there are fears of epidemics due to the rotting corpses buried under rubble brought by the torrents of water.
Uttarakhand's Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi told the Indian Express that 190 government doctors - who were on leave at the height of the disaster - did not report for duty, despite being told to do so.
“During the crisis, when we began counting our personnel for deputation to the affected areas, it emerged that so many doctors were on leave,” Negi was quoted as saying.
“Since they have failed to turn up for duty despite specific orders issued in the aftermath of the flood, we have decided to move forward with termination of their services.”
The report said there was already a shortage of government doctors in Uttarakhand and that when the calamity struck, the few specialists available were treating basic ailments such as coughs and fever in the medical camps.
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