UP CM decided to raise retirement age for doctors ahead of PM

Lucknow: It may be far from pleasing to the BJP but Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was much ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as far as the decision to raise retirement age of doctors from 60 to 65 is concerned.

While the Union cabinet is yet to take a decision in this regard, state cabinet had okayed it as early as February 4,2015. The issue has cropped up again in the light of announcement by Modi that his government proposed to raise the retirement age of doctors to 65 to fill the vacancies in government hospitals.

The announcement was made at Saharanpur on Thursday at a meeting held to mark completion of two years of his government at the Centre. It was touted by his partymen as a major departure from the past.

The logic given by Akhilesh government was, of course, different. It was said that the change was made to meet the requirements of senior doctors in the medical colleges in the state. In any case, it has provided a new propaganda material to the Samajwadi Party.

What Modi Said:

"Today I want to announce from the soil of Uttar Pradesh, that the retirement age for government doctors, which is 60 or 62 in some places, will be made 65 all over the country.”

What Akhilesh said:

“The decision of the state government has been aimed at meeting the requirements of Medical Council of India in all the government medical colleges of the state as there would have shortage of senior staff that would have adversely affected the study of thousands of medical students.”