Under ‘stress’, 2 doctors at Bathinda Civil Hospital resign

Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 5

Two doctors (MD medicine) have tendered their resignation within the past four days from the Bathinda Civil Hospital at a time when the health department is grappling with staff shortage, especially amid the raging second wave of Covid-19.

These two doctors (out of total four at medicine OPD) were discharging their duties at the forefront to contain the virus, detect and diagnose Covid-19 patients in the district with one of them entrusted with the role of district nodal officer for Covid-19. The development has not only put additional burden on the existing staff, but also likely to affect the treatment being given to patients.

Dr Jayant Aggarwal and Dr Ramandeep Goyal have tendered their resignations. A senior functionary hinted that many other doctors and staff were planning to quit.

Citing personal reasons for resigning, Dr Goyal said: “It has nothing to do with Covid-19. I had applied for resignation even six months ago.”

Sources said though doctors were quitting apparently due to high stress levels amid massive workload, some were calling it quits to earn more money in private hospitals as compared to fixed salaries paid by the government.

Taking a strong view of the matter, Civil Surgeon Dr Tejwant Singh Dhillon said: “It is quite unfortunate that doctors are quitting at a time when their services are required the most. They are trained at government hospitals and when there is time to serve, they move on to greener pastures as per their convenience. For now, we have shifted a doctor from Talwandi Sabo hospital to serve in place of those who have resigned.”