PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun Taking a stern note of the absenteeism of a large number of the bonded medical officers, the State Health department has terminated the services of 234 such doctors. The department has also started the process of recovery from these doctors. The Health minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that the officers have been directed to remove 234 bonded medical officers who are absent from their hospitals without information. He said that these medical officers had entered into a bond with the government at the start of their studies in the government medical colleges of the State. As per the conditions of the contract they had to serve in the State Health services for a period of five years. After completion of their studies they were posted in the hospitals located in the mountainous areas of the State. However, many of them have been absent from their assigned place of work for a long period. Rawat said that as per the contract these doctors have to submit a specific sum of money in lieu of being free from the bond and get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the department. The minister said that the director of Medical Education has been directed to recover the money mentioned in the bond from these doctors. Rawat has also directed the Health department to terminate the services of the absentee bonded medical officers. The chief medical officers of the districts and the officer in-charge of the hospitals where these doctors were deployed have also been directed to submit explanations for the long absence of these doctors and for initiating action against them. As per the department, 29 of such doctors were deployed in Tehri district, 25 in Uttarkashi, 14 in Rudraprayag, 10 in Bageshwar, 25 in Pithoragarh, 26 in Pauri, 16 in Almora, 46 in Chamoli, 11 in Champawat, 41 in Nainital and one in Dehradun district. The State Health department will also send a list containing the names of these absentee medical officers to the National Medical Council (NMC).