Hundreds of MBBS graduates who have passed from various medical colleges across Odisha staged a demonstration at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday protesting the alleged irregularities in filling up doctors’ posts in the State.
The MBBS graduates also protested against the insufficient vacancies in the ‘Unreserved Category’ for the post of Medical Officers.
“There has been a steady decline in the number of vacancies sanctioned in the Unreserved Category every year. From 2000, it has now come down to 196 since 2017. Similarly, the number of posts in the reserved category are not getting filled,” said a protestor.
Another protesting MBBS graduate said, as the seats in the Reserved Categories are not getting filled, these posts are continuing to pile up leading to an unreal vacuum of doctors in the State even though there is adequate number of qualified doctors in the Unreserved Category.
“Almost 1800 Unreserved candidates would be applying for a paltry number of posts. This is causing distress among the General Category candidates as the number of applicants is more than the number of posts available in the Unreserved Category,” a member of the group alleged.
The demands of the MBBS graduates include:
-Scrapping of the latest OPSC notification for medical officer recruitment and postings fresh notification for recruitment of medical officers with increased number of posts.
-De- reservation of vacancies in the Reserved Category in the prescribed manner under Orissa Act 38 of 1975
-Publication of ranked list with number of candidates two times the number of sanctioned vacancies.
-Explanation regarding less number of seats in the Unreserved Category
-Conduct of OPSC Exam in online mode to maintain transparency