Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the fact that we recently launched the medical laboratory in our primary health centre (PHC). Many things have changed at the PHC since the inception of the laboratory. The most remarkable change was the hike in Out-Patient Department (OPD) fee. The voices raised by the outpatient fee hike issue was fading as weeks passed by. The common man had got used to the hike, I reckon. The earnings from the laboratory was also climbing a slow, yet steady sine curve. Everything was getting back to normal. It didn’t feel right to me though. Something big was coming and I could feel it.
After the consulting hours on the fairly busy monday morning, our new lab technician approached me with a big smile on her face. I thought, she was about to announce the record-breaking lab fee collections that day! sigh!
“I received the appointment order from ICTC, and I have to join there in two weeks time”
She must have seen the rapid change in my pleasing facial curves which almost disappeared as I responded to this news. It was a great news for her, but what about the laboratory in our PHC? I was thinking just about the laboratory. The “to-do list” prepared by me just two months back to appoint the current laboratory technician suddenly flashed across my mind.
It was practically impossible to conduct another interview within the next two weeks and appoint a new laboratory technician. This was important because, we were still charging 5 rupees as the OPD fee. The services offered by the laboratory could not be stopped for any reason.
I had heard about lab technicians resigning from their jobs in other hospitals. The main reason for the resignation was that the private laboratories functioning near the PHC would hire them by offering better salary! But in this situation, our laboratory technician had the chance to work in another government-run laboratory. There was no reason why she should’ve denied the new job in offer. The integrated counselling and testing centre (ICTC) was closer to her home and she was offered a better salary there.
The Christmas holidays were on the horizon and I had to act fast. The first thing that I did was to accept our current technician’s request to relieve her from duty. She had agreed to work till the 31st of December.
The next thing to do was to inform the district laboratory technician (DLT) and our new panchayat president about the job vacancy in the laboratory. Another round of job interview for the post of laboratory technician had to be conducted and we were running short of time.
We made a small “Notice” inviting the applications for the vacant post at our PHC and published it as news in the local newspapers. A friend of mine who worked in the media helped by running a scroll in the local cable channel too. We received just 4 applications with the “curriculum vitae” of the applicants on time.
The date for the job interview was set on Wednesday, the 30th of December. The interview board consisted of just 2 members apart from me namely the panchayat president and the DLT. On the day of Immunization and NCD programme, it was impossible for me to conduct the OPD and the job interview simultaneously. Our Taluk Hospital Superintendent helped me in this regard by providing one of their doctors to conduct the OPD from 11 am.
On the day of interview, I had asked the hospital and office staff to make all the necessary arrangements for conducting the job interview without any problems. I conducted the OPD till 11 am which was the time scheduled for commencing the interview.
Only 3 applicants had arrived for the interview even though we had received 4 applications. The interview was conducted based on the following criteria :
- Educational qualification (diploma or degree in MLT)
- Working experience
- Nativity (preference to the native of same panchayat)
- Knowledge on the subject
One applicant was selected based on the above mentioned criteria. The interview was over in just one and a half hours. The newly selected lab technician was informed to attend the PHC the very next day itself. This was to give an orientation of the work and laboratory equipments. On the first day of 2016, our laboratory will have a new technician. I hope, that we don’t have to conduct another job interview for the next few months. I am a happy and relieved man as I write this post.
We are going out for the new year celebrations. How about you guys?
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all the readers of BeingTheDoctor 🙂 Enjoy!!!
