Editorial
Public hospitals and corruption
Recruiting efficient technicians an imperative
The nation's public hospitals are in a spot. The reason is of course a familiar one, corruption. As many as 370 health technicians have for the past one year had their recruitment stalled owing to allegations of financial corruption on the part of a now retired senior official at the Directorate General of Health Services. The then director (administration) of DGHS reportedly accepted pecuniary benefits from those seeking employment as technicians in hospitals in return for appointing them to the services.
The good news here is that the DGHS authorities called a halt to the questionable recruitment, which was earlier preceded by a written examination in August and then a viva voce earlier this month. The bad news is that an absence of good technical hands is clearly impeding the public hospitals from functioning effectively, which in other words means that hundreds of patients could be facing difficulties in undergoing treatment at these hospitals. Obviously, it is important that reports of corruption in the recruitment of the technicians be vigorously and swiftly investigated and those alleged to be involved subjected to a thorough inquiry. There cannot be any compromise here particularly since a technician's job demands great skill as well as experience. These are necessary since it is the lives of ailing people they will be dealing with through being able to operate the intricate, sophisticated equipment in hospital labs.
That takes us to the next point. There are at present 731 posts of technicians lying vacant in the public hospitals. Why that is so is beyond comprehension given that public health is dependent on a twenty four-hour presence of such technicians. The DGHS authorities should be speeding up the process of filling in the vacancies. Now, where the 370 already selected technicians are concerned, let there be a quick re-examination of those who may not have been part of the corruption involved. A new examination will surely be tedious, but under the circumstances it is the only way of addressing the grievances of those who might feel they have been wronged by the DGHS' putting a stop to their recruitment.
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