Uttarakhand govt’s only cardiologist, who quit over VIP duties, resumes work

DEHRADUN: Dr Amar Upadhyaya, the only cardiologist at Uttarakhand’s government hospitals who recently quit over frequent VIP duties, has withdrawn his resignation and resumed work, Government Doon Medical College principal Dr Ashutosh Sayana said on Tuesday.

“He [Dr Upadhyaya] has joined back... Even people have expectations…. We will take up the matter with higher authorities,” Dr Sayana told HT.

He said Dr Upadhyaya was the only cardiologist in the government sector across the state.

Dr Upadhayaya recently put in his papers over frequent orders assigning him for visits of dignitaries including those who were in the state for G20 meetings.

The cardiologist did not respond to requests for his comments. Other doctors who had spoken with him, however, said Dr Upadhayaya was upset over frequent VIP duties because it meant his office had to turn back patients who travel long distances for treatment.

A second doctor said they were not given advance notice about their deployment on VIP assignments but were usually just given a few hours to prepare.

In February, HT reported on the acute shortage of specialist and super-specialist doctors in Uttarakhand government hospitals. There were only 515 specialist and super-specialist doctors against 1,254 sanctioned posts in the state.

In an effort to reduce the shortage, the state health department started a ‘You Quote We Pay’ scheme under which the state government has decided to recruit specialist doctors through the National Health Mission (NHM) who will be paid up to ₹400,000 monthly salary. The minimum salary will be ₹250,000.

Health secretary R Rajesh Kumar didn’t respond to calls despite repeated attempts.