The Kerala High Court on Monday raised concerns over postgraduate doctors being left without government postings for months after completing their courses, leaving them unable to complete their compulsory service or work elsewhere [George Balu & Ors. v State of Kerela & Ors.].

Justice Viju Abraham proceeded to direct the Kerala government to decide whether additional Senior Resident posts should be created to accommodate such doctors or whether postgraduate doctors left for months on end without a posting should be released from their compulsory one-year service bond.

The State has been ordered to take a decision within one month.

The issue of PG doctors being left without a posting arose because two batches of MD students (2021 and 2022 batches) completed their course the same year due to COVID lockdown-related delays.

This was flagged in petitions filed by several postgraduate doctors who had completed their courses at government medical colleges in Kerala, but were not given postings to complete their compulsory government service.

The Court noted that the doctors were ready to serve but were unable to do so due to a shortage of Senior Resident vacancies. As a result, they were not receiving the stipend payable to Senior Residents. Their original certificates were also being retained until completion of the bond period.

The Court termed this state of affairs a "national waste" of resources.

"If this situation is permitted to continue, naturally for the subsequent years also it will result in the post-graduate students sitting idle for months together without being given any posting, without having any stipend nor being able to work outside the Government service. I am of the view that this is a national waste since the post- graduate students are sitting idle without discharging any function, without providing any service to the public in Government or in a private sector," the Court observed.

The State, meanwhile, informed the Court that nearly 1,000 postgraduate students became eligible for compulsory government service, while only around 600 Senior Resident vacancies were available.

The government told the Court that the Directorate of Medical Education had already submitted a proposal for creating additional supernumerary Senior Resident posts to address the shortage. The proposal was pending before the government.

Additionally, the Court also considered the doctors' challenge to the validity of the compulsory service bond.

The Court rejected that challenge. It relied on an earlier Kerala High Court Division Bench judgment in Dr Ayisha Beegam v State of Kerala, which had upheld the requirement that postgraduate students serve the State for one year.

The Court, however, held that the one-year bond period cannot be counted only from the date of posting.

It noted that the prospectus governing admission to the 2022-23 postgraduate courses stated that Senior Residency would be counted from the date of publication of the examination result, subject to successful completion of the course. The Court therefore held that the bond period must be counted from that date, regardless of when the doctor is posted.

The Court further observed that some doctors had been without postings for almost eight months. They were not receiving the Senior Resident stipend. They were also unable to work elsewhere as their certificates would be released only after completion of the bond.

In this context, the Court held that the government could not ignore the consequences of leaving trained postgraduate doctors without work.

“Even when I uphold the condition that the post-graduate students who are studying in Government Medical Colleges are bound to execute a bond and are bound to serve the Government service as Senior Resident for a period of one year, this Court cannot ignore the situation that the post-graduate doctors, are forced to sit idle without doing any service either to the Government or in the public sector, which both cater to the interests of the general public. This cannot go unnoticed by the Government,” said Justice Abraham.

The Court ultimately directed the State government to take an appropriate decision on the proposal to create additional supernumerary Senior Resident posts within one month of receiving a copy of the judgment.

It said the government must either create the additional posts and accommodate the doctors so that they can complete their bonded service, or relieve them from the bond.

The petitions were accordingly disposed of.

Advocates Ranjith B Marar, Lakshmi N Kaimal, P Rajkumar, Keshavraj Nair, Biju Vigneswar, Arun Poomulli, Abhiram S, Gaadha Suresh, Akshay Shibu, Ananthapadmanabhan, Ashish Paul, Laxmisree Jayantha Kumar and Murali Krishna Prasad appeared for the petitioners.

Senior Advocate S Ganesh and P Sreekumar, along with Government Pleader Asha Elizabeth Mathew, appeared for the respondents.

[Read Judgment]