Bitter pill for over staying doctors

Lakmini RODRIGO

COLOMBO: Strict legal action will be immediately taken against doctors who had gone for specialist training abroad and have not returned to country, Health and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.

The Ministry will make arrangements to get down doctors to the country or to institute legal action against those defying orders to come down, to recover the bond charges from them or their sureties.

While the shortage of medical consultants exceeded 500, the Minister said 130 doctors who had gone for specialist training to foreign countries had failed to report for work even after completing training.

"Only eight doctors promised to return to the country bringing down the number of doctors to 122, staying abroad when they should have come down, violating the bond, De Silva said.

"The Minister said the Government had spent a large sum to educate these doctors and for their training abroad, but these doctors had chosen not to return to the country.

"The Government spends more than Rs. 2 million on each doctor's post graduate training, provide their monthly salary, living allowance and expenses incurred for their air travels during the training period.

They have signed bonds with the Ministry, and the cost involved according to the bond exceeded Rs.113 million for all doctors sent for overseas training", De Silva said.

Some who wished to remain overseas having learnt that the Ministry is contemplating legal action to recover all expenses borne by the State had paid their bonds. But yet over Rs. 76.8 million is to be recovered," the Minister said.

According to the Minister, most doctors who had failed to return after training were anaesthetics, psychiatrists and radiologists. "There is a big demand for anaesthetics in foreign countries", De Silva said.

About 708 doctors had gone abroad for training from 2000. The tragedy is that doctors tend to act with only their interests in mind, leaving poor patients to suffer", he said.

While observing the Government allocated a large amount of money to improve the health sector and provide better facilities to patients, De Silva said the need for consultants keeps increasing.