March 2013 News 7: PANEL SUGGESTS SWEEPING CHANGES IN MEDICAL NORMS FOR GOVERNMENT JOB

PANEL SUGGESTS SWEEPING CHANGES IN MEDICAL NORMS FOR GOVERNMENT JOB

A committee chaired by the Director-General Health Services (DGHS) has proposed sweeping changes in the medical parameters for candidates applying for government jobs.

In the light of advanced medical treatment now available for many conditions, the Prime Minister's office had suggested a relook at the disease for which a candidate could be declared 'unfit' for entry into Civil Services and other such jobs.

So diabetes /hypertension may no longer get one certified as 'permanently unfit', while a woman found pregnant at the time of a medical test may not be rejected outsight. Similarly, persons with squint or one functional eye may not get ruled out for technical services, as is the practice. As per the new norms proposed, they should be fit for all services except the Railways, IPS and for geologist job.

While candidates with malignancies or transplanted organs are to be deemed unfit, those with benign tumours-the committee proposes-should get the green signal unlike earlier.

For all diseases curable by surgery, in fact, there may be denomination of 'temporarily unfit' and the candidates could be declared fit once they have had the surgery.

Apart from DGHS Dr. Jagdish Prasad, the 14-member committee  comprised senior doctors from Delhi's Safdarjung and RML, Hospitals. The recommendations have been sent to the Health Ministry and will be notified soon, sources said.

The earlier provision of candidates with hydrocele, varicose veins and piles being outrightly rejected on medical grounds could change too. For jobs that do not require long hours of standing, candidates with varicose veins should be termed fit, the panel says. The committee also finds fault with the practice of those with low-grade colour vision being deemed fit for medical officer's post but unfit for teaching and non-teaching posts of medical officers. It feels that the distinction should be speciality specific rather than post specific as many non-surgical specialities like skin, psychiatry and other non-clinical subjects do not require

full colour vision.

The exercise involved rationalisation of existing fitness criteria and revision of some of them to ensure uniformity between services. For example while earlier Indian Forest Service candidates with more than-8D error (power) were being referred to the Myopia Board, for other services the cut-off was-4D. The committee has now recommended that for all technical services, refractive errors of more than-6D, including spherical and cylindrical error, be made 'fit' provided there are no degenerative changes seen in parts of the eye.

While ruling that candidates with diabetes or hypertension be categorised 'fit' provided there are no signs of end organ damage, the committee has listed some tests which should be conducted to check for the latter, including for blood sugar and kidney function as well as for eye or neural damage apart from ECG. A pregnant applicant similarly may not be considered for positions involving complications or requiring vigorously physical activity at all times.