WAJAHAT SHABIR
SRINAGAR: Around 5,753 BDS doctors are registered as unemployed in Jammu and Kashmir, the Health and Medical Education Department informed the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, while stating that future recruitment will be taken up against sanctioned posts as vacancies become available.
The information was provided in a written reply to a starred question raised by Shamim Firdous. The department said approximately 5,753 Dental Surgeons are registered as unemployed in the Union Territory. However, it rejected the claim that no recruitment process has been undertaken since 2008, saying appointments are made against sanctioned posts in accordance with prescribed recruitment rules and subject to the availability of vacancies.
The department also dismissed the claim that 48 Dental Surgeon posts are lying vacant against a sanctioned strength of 62 at Government Dental College and Hospital, Srinagar, clarifying that no post of Dental Surgeon has been specifically sanctioned for the institution. It said manpower requirements in government health institutions are assessed periodically based on sanctioned posts, existing vacancies, patient load, functional requirements and available infrastructure, and vacancies are referred to the competent recruiting authority whenever they arise.
Speaking separately in the Assembly, Health Minister Sakina Itoo acknowledged that no BDS appointments have been made since the 2008 government, saying thousands of qualified graduates have been waiting for jobs.
She said that soon after the present government assumed office, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah directed that the issue should not be ignored, following which the Health Department processed and forwarded the matter to the concerned department.
Itoo said it was not possible to provide jobs to all trained BDS doctors immediately, but assured that the government would take up recruitment in a phased manner as vacancies become available. “Whatever is possible within the existing framework, the government will certainly do so, so that these young BDS graduates who are sitting at home receive justice at some level,” she said.
The department also highlighted infrastructure development carried out at Government Dental College and Hospital, Srinagar since 2010. It said the institution has undergone expansion, renovation and upgradation through projects including the construction of a library block, installation of a fire-fighting system, an additional academic block, an effluent treatment plant, upgradation of the Prosthodontics Department, a CCTV surveillance system and renovation of the administrative block to strengthen dental education and patient-care services.
