Uttar Pradesh govt considering proposal to raise retirement age of doctors to 65 years

livemint.com:

To address the shortage of doctors in Uttar Pradesh, the state government is considering a proposal to increase the retirement age of government doctors from 62 years to 65 years, said a report by Hindustan Times. Currently, there are 14,000 doctors working across 19,000 sanctioned posts in the state. “We need more doctors for which the proposal to increase retirement age from the present 62-years to 65-years has been made.

But those doctors opting to work till 65 years of age will not be given administrative charge after age 62 years," said a senior health official in the report. In January, a panel was set up to evaluate the proposal for increasing the retirement age from 62 to 65 years of age. The government doctors had initially opposed the proposal.

According to the report, those doctors who opt to work till 65 years of age will not hold any administrative post. The department has also proposed giving the option to leave for those doctors who do not wish to work after the age of 62 years, said the report. If the decision not to give administrative posts is approved, several doctors currently working in the health directorate and other offices will have to join government hospitals and give consultancy to patients, , said the report.

“Extending retirement age will retain experienced doctors in service. Doctors’ clinical knowledge at the age of 62 is tremendous and if they are fit to work, they should be given a chance," Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary-general, Association of International Doctors, told Hindustan Times. “The option to leave, if given, will be significant as this will allow unwilling doctors to leave service.