The Barnala Health Department has asked a radiologist to furnish 50 lakhs as bond money for reportedly flouting the government norms. The doctor had left his job midway and was contactable over a period of time.
Dr. Sahil Chabbra, the doctor, had earned an MD seat on the government quota and has been posted at the Barnala Civil Hospital since 2020. He has allegedly failed to report to his duties since 2021. Being untraceable, he was labelled as absconding and later asked to pay the amount as per the bond rules.
According to the rules of the Punjab government, a doctor needs to serve for 10 years for the department and sign a bond of Rs 50 lakhs, which needs to be paid if the bond is broken. Confirming the news, the civil surgeon of the Barnala Civil Hospital said that the doctor started skipping his duties in 2021. Later, he came to know that he was running his private diagnostic centre in the Hansi town of Hisar. Thereafter, a team was sent there to confirm the development and collect the documentary evidence. The civil surgeon then approached the state health department and got permission to recover the Rs 50 lakh and pursue a case against the doctor.
The doctor was persuaded many times by the Barnala health department to pay the Rs 50 lakh fine, and after repeated attempts, he deposited Rs 25 lakhs in the past week and agreed to pay the balance until February next year.
According to Punjab State Health Department officials, many government doctors are reportedly practicing privately across the state. The Punjab Health Minister, Mr. Balbir Singh, informed me last month that many doctors have repeatedly approached him to exempt them from the mandatory bond, but he did not agree to the same.
The Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS), an association of government doctors, is of the view that the bond money needs to be in sync with the number of years the doctor serves after the completion of his postgraduate studies and should be allowed to be paid in a phased manner if violations are proved.
(Inputs from various sources)
Rehash/Dr. Sushmita Ganguli