Doctors in Bihar are on the warpath with the state government after it released a list of 705 who are getting their salary despite being absent from duty for a long time.

The list is not exhaustive and health minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has promised strict action against the errant medical practitioners.

The 705 absentee doctors have been detected at government hospitals across the state in the past one month by the health department.

“Around 705 doctors at government hospitals have been absent for several years. Some of them are absent for the past 12 years, some for 10 years, and some for five years. Those who are honest and do their duty responsibly will be felicitated, but those who are dishonest and do not perform their duty will be punished,” health minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said.

Tejashwi, the younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, asserted that he would keep working for the people and would not back down.

“This is the government that listens to the problems of the people and acts. The people have elected us. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has said that this is the government of the people, so we are working for them. We are not here to do anything else,” Tejashwi added.

The health minister has suspended Vinod Kumar Singh, superintendent of the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna, after finding various deficiencies during an inspection visit recently. He said Singh did not know where the dengue ward was.

The health department has made the list of absentee doctors public by uploading it on its website and publishing advertisements in newspapers. The list includes the name, designation, place of posting, gradation number and registration number of the doctors.

All of them have been asked to submit the reason behind their absence either via email or through post.

“The department will take suitable action against the absentee doctors if they do not submit their clarification or we do not receive it,” a senior health department officer told The Telegraph.

So far, around 150 doctors named in the list have submitted their response.

Doctors have come out in protest against the government move and have pointed out flaws in the mechanism to identify absentees.

“The health department’s personnel management system is very poor. Its different wings neither have any coordination nor any inkling of what they are doing. We have evidence that many doctors in the list either resigned soon after joining the service. The health department is notorious for not acting on resignation letters,” Ajay Kumar, a senior doctor and central committee member of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), told this newspaper.

“The list also contains names of doctors who have been transferred and are currently working at other hospitals. Some have become resident doctors or taken up teaching posts at medical colleges and hospitals. Some doctors appointed as general duty medical officers have joined government duty as specialist medical officers, yet they have been counted as absent,” Kumar added.

Kumar, who is also an executive member of the IMA’s Bihar unit, said he and his team had submitted the evidence of discrepancies in the list to the health department.

He pointed out that young doctors who went to government hospitals in rural areas became distraught and frustrated with the absence of basic facilities, which prompted them to leave the service.

“We are not going to let go of this issue. There is a need to see everything in a holistic manner,” Kumar added.

IMA Bihar unit president D.S. Singh also came out in support of the affected doctors and said the state government should focus on improving the working conditions and facilities instead of indulging in frivolous things.

“There have been several instances where dead or retired doctors have been declared absent from service. There are around 15,000 sanctioned posts of doctors in government hospitals in Bihar, but only 7,000 have been filled up,” Singh said.

“It is wrong if any doctor, who has stopped working, is getting salary. But why is the government giving it to them? The records, the attendance and monitoring systems are with the government, yet it is complaining about giving salaries to absent doctors. It should first put its own house in order,” Singh added.