Urologists work as casualty medical officers in emergency depts. owing to lack of appropriate vacancies across T.N.

With no vacancies in their super speciality department, 12 government urologists, who completed their M.Ch. Urology in 2025, have been working as casualty medical officers (CMO) at emergency departments (EDs) of government medical college hospitals for nearly a year, providing emergency care and making entries in accident registries every day.The urologists were among service postgraduates who completed DM/M.Ch. in 2025. While most of them were posted to their parent departments, some, including the urologists, were assigned as CMOs, including in new medical college hospitals functioning without super speciality departments.In December 2025, the Director of Medical Education (DME) and Research, posted them to government medical college hospitals in Karur, Nagapattinam, Sivagangai, Tiruppur, Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, Virudhunagar, Namakkal, Krishnagiri, Perundurai, the Nilgiris, and Kallakurichi.The DME had informally asked the deans to allow them to provide urological services. Subsequently, in the first two months of joining duty, the doctors were allowed to offer urological services for patients. “Many started seeing at least 30 outpatients a day, apart from working in the emergency departments. Some started to perform procedures to remove kidney stones and treat urinary tract blockages. But in April, the DME issued a circular directing deans to stop all deputations and diversions of CMOs to strengthen EDs. Their urological services were halted,” a doctor said.Patients who had been receiving treatment had to be referred to the nearest government medical college hospital. This was a loss of super speciality care for patients as they were doing work an MBBS qualified person could do. The urologists should be used in their speciality at their current places of posting.“Why must available manpower be wasted? Patients requiring even basic urological care have to travel 50 to 60 km to reach the nearest government medical college hospital. Allowing them to work in their speciality will reduce unnecessary referrals by at least 50% and facilitate basic urological services to treat kidney stones, urinary tract infections, and prostate issues,” a doctor said.Sources said no new posts had been created in urology departments over the years. Several government medical college hospitals, including those in Pudukottai, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, and Tiruvallur, have only one urologist. Hospitals in Karur, Sivagangai, Tiruppur, Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, and Kallakurichi have no urology services, despite having urologists posted in their emergency departments now.The doctors could be allowed to work under the general surgery departments in their current hospitals to provide uninterrupted urology care, while the long-pending demand is to create new posts, doctors said.After the urologists made representations to health officials, they were told that a transfer counselling was being planned. “But with no vacancies in urology, they may again be posted as CMOs. It is depressing to work in a role instead of the speciality for which they were trained,” the doctor said. A health official said their demand would be considered.Health Secretary Darez Ahamed said measures had been taken to create new super speciality posts. Officials said a gap analysis had been done to map shortfalls in super speciality departments. Already two rounds of reviews have been completed and a comprehensive proposal to create new posts will be submitted to the government early next week, he added. Published - November 03, 2026 08:30 pm IST