Nearly 800-odd service postgraduates (PG), who completed MD/MS, have been given temporary postings in Tamil Nadu without counselling or following seniority. Government doctors said this was a departure from the practice followed in the past few years, when vacancy lists were notified and counselling was held for posting service PGs, Health officials, however, said the temporary postings were made only for salary purposes.
On October 5, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and Research issued orders temporarily assigning service PGs to posts in government medical college hospitals/affiliated institutions under the DME, and to institutions under the Directorates of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) and Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine. However, the posts and institutions were not specified for those assigned to DMS and DPH institutions.
The communication said transfer counselling for service PGs would be scheduled later and prior information would be given. The move has, however, caused concern among a section of doctors.
“Usually, vacancies in DME and DMS institutions are notified in advance when service PGs near course completion. Transparent counselling is held and postings are based on Civil Medical List (CML) seniority. This year, all of a sudden, the DME issued temporary postings without notifying vacancies or counselling. CML seniority has also not been followed, with juniors posted in DME institutions while seniors have been posted in DMS institutions,” a doctor said.
Doctors said the temporary postings and delay in transfer counselling could affect salary disbursement as it usually takes four to five months for doctors to receive their first month salary at the initial place of posting. “If counselling is held later and they are transferred to another station, the change could further delay the process, potentially taking nearly 10 months for salary payments to stabilise,” he said.
Some doctors recalled a similar situation in 2019, when temporary postings were issued for service PGs without a regular counselling process. They said it took nearly three years to obtain posts on the basis of CML seniority.
The Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association (SDPGA) has objected to the move. Its president, P. Saminathan, said even temporary postings should be made through counselling while maintaining CML seniority. “This is not about 10 or 15 doctors but a massive number of 800-odd service PGs. CML seniority has not been maintained.
Junior doctors have been posted to DME institutions, while doctors who are senior as per CML have been posted to DMS and DPH institutions. This will lead to complications in promotion counselling for associate professors in the future,” he said.
Doctors expressed concern that this could affect the teaching experience in future as juniors have got postings in DME institutions.
E. Yogeshwaran, deputy general secretary, Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association, said the temporary orders are unnecessary and would cause panic and hardship for service PGs. “Usually, counselling for service PGs are held after intra-DME, DMS-to-DME, intra-DMS, DPH-to-DMS and intra-DPH counselling. The process should have begun earlier. It was delayed due to administrative reasons or indecisiveness of DME officials,” he said.
This will lead to manpower shortage in medical college hospitals without one whole batch of service PGs, as the 2026 NEET-PG counselling has just started, he said.
A senior health official, however, said the temporary postings were issued only for salary purposes. DME officials said the arrangement was temporary, for a month or two, until regular counselling is conducted after transfer counselling of assistant professors.
Published - October 08, 2026 04:00 am IST