Some Doctors Are Zeros

Jisha Surya
First Published : 08 May 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On Friday, the mother of a two-month-old baby died in the Government Medical College Hospital here. Her post-mortem report revealed the presence of an 8-cm-long surgical needle in her stomach, apparently left during her Caesarean section.
On Thursday, it was the negligence by a doctor that killed an Endosulfan victim in Kasargod that made headlines.
Take a minute before wondering what is wrong with our system and look at the list of candidates waiting to join as assistant surgeons in government hospitals in the state. There are even those who scored zero and negative marks! Of the 2,145 candidates who found place in the rank list, around 10 percent have scored marks below 20 percent.
The last rank-holder scored -3 in the PSC test that examined their awareness on basic medical science. Two candidates scored zero.
One got one mark while five got two. Around 200 doctors have scores below 20 out of 100. All of them are eligible for permanent employment, according to the PSC. The rank list was published on January 13 and more than 300 in the list have already been placed.
According to PSC Chairman K V Salahuddin, all whose name appeared in the rank list will be given placements as PSC is considering only MBBS and registration in Medical Council of India as qualification.
“According to a Supreme Court order, only MBBS and MCI registration are needed for being eligible to get a doctor’s job. The test is just for ranking purpose. Since around 3,000 vacancies exist in government hospitals, all in the rank list will get appointment,” he told Express.
Curiously, the PSC has not conducted an interview for the post of assistant surgeons this time. The rank list published in September, 2009, included the marks of interview too. Salahuddin cites the number of vacant seats and necessity for immediate appointment as the reason for not conducting interview.
“If 300 doctors are given appointments, only 100 might turn up. Again, some may go for higher studies. Thus, the demand is too high,” he explained.
When asked about the quality of such poor performers, Salahuddin said that the question must be asked to those who had bestowed them with the MBBS degree and MCI registration.
“As per the guidelines, PSC is liable to appoint all of them,” he said.