Doctors stage dharna for offer letters from OPSC

Bhubaneswar: Candidates having MBBS degree staged a dharna in front of the office of Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC), Cuttack, on Monday, demanding issue of offer letters to around 901 candidates for joining govt hospitals.

They qualified a recruitment test conducted by OPSC last year.OPSC issued advertisement on June 8, 2025, for appointment of 5,284 doctors in different govt hospitals across the state. Around 3,000 candidates appeared for the test, but only 1,840 qualified it.“While 822 got recruited, the remaining candidates are yet to get appointment letters. Our document verification was completed in Oct last year, but we are in the dark whether we will get the job or not.

That’s why we have hit the street,” said an agitating candidate.A protestor said around 400 posts were meant for general candidates, which was less than 50% of the total posts. Some of the general candidates went to Orissa high court challenging this issue, he added.“While govt hospitals across the state have shortage of doctors, candidates having medical degrees are not getting recruited. This is unfortunate. Govt should interfere in this matter and resolve it by appointing the remaining qualified candidates,” said another candidate.

They met health minister Mukesh Mahaling and discussed this matter with him.OPSC secretary Bijay Kumar Khandayat Ray said 1,840 candidates qualified the recruitment test and 1,723 were present for document verification. “We followed the high court order and gave appointment letters to 822 candidates. We cannot comment on why the other candidates did not get the appointment letters,” he added.