Up retirement age of medical scientists: Indian Medical Association

Hyderabad: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has come up with a demand to increase the retirement age of medical scientists and doctors at the Indian Council of Medical Research and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at par with the doctors working in hospitals.  The Central government has increased the retirement age of doctors to 65 years. 

This order is being followed in Defence and other civil establishments. But in the scientific research centres, this is not in force where the age limit is still 60 or 62 years in various departments.  Dr K.K. Aggarwal, senior Indian Medical Association member explained that the Central government must make it uniform in all  departments. 

“So that the doctors who are moving from the clinical side to research can continue for a longer period of time. “Also, the translation of medical innovation into products and processes will be easier,” he said.  Currently, works are carried out in the government sector but as research is a long drawn process, it takes years to complete the work. 

A senior doctor doing research on cell therapy explained that just as retired doctors from government colleges are picked up by private hospitals, scientists are given a good opportunity by private companies.  “The experience in the government sector is vast. Hence raising age will benefit the government.  Also, moving from one government department to another will be easier if the retirement age is the same,” he said. In a letter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Medical Association has demanded that those in biomedical research must be considered by the government.