my uttarakhand news | DEHRADUN Taking a stern action on absenteeism of doctors, the State health department has terminated the services of 158 medical officers who were absconding from their duty for a long period of time. The State government has approved the proposal of the department to terminate these doctors. As per the department data, a total of 60 doctors had not reported to the hospital since their appointment while 59 doctors are absconding from their duty for a long period of time. A total of 39 doctors were not reporting to the place of their appointment during their training period. The terminated doctors include 21 from Udham Singh Nagar district, 13 each from Chamoli and Tehri, 12 from Almora and 11 each from Nainital, Champawat and Uttarkashi districts. Nine doctors from Dehradun and Bageshwar, 10 from Pauri, seven in Rudraprayag, six from Haridwar and five from Pithoragarh districts were also terminated. The absence of the doctors was affecting health services in the remote and mountainous areas of the State. After removing the absentee doctors, the Health department is planning to start a recruitment drive to fill the vacant posts of doctors in the State health services. The health minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that all these doctors were absent from their work for a long period of time due to which the health services were being affected. He said that the State government will not tolerate absentee and irresponsible doctors.