CHENNAI: Health and Family Welfare Minister K G Arunraj on Saturday defended the government’s decision to temporarily post government postgraduate doctors completing their courses in October, assuring them that the arrangement would not affect their salaries or their right to participate in regular counselling.

The clarification comes amid objections to the temporary postings, with doctors raising concerns over the absence of the usual counselling process, relocation difficulties and the implications for their choice of permanent workplaces.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision, Arunraj said the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted medical education and counselling schedules, leading to administrative complications in previous years. Counselling for doctors who completed their postgraduate courses in October 2025 was held only in December, creating difficulties in salary payments and other service-related procedures during the intervening period.

The government introduced the temporary arrangement to ensure that the current batch did not face similar problems, he said.

According to the minister, postings were allotted based on the three preferred locations submitted by doctors in their applications. Where vacancies were unavailable at their chosen locations, nearby alternatives were assigned, taking into account family circumstances and the difficulties of relocating over long distances.

The government would issue guidelines requiring Last Pay Certificates (LPCs) and service registers to be transferred within 30 days, enabling doctors to receive their salaries without interruption from the first month at their new postings, Arunraj said.

He stressed that the arrangement was purely temporary and would not curtail doctors’ rights in the regular counselling process.

Under Government Order 131, all posts filled through the interim arrangement would be included in the next counselling exercise. Regular counselling would be conducted transparently based on the Civil Medical List (CML) and seniority, allowing doctors with temporary postings to compete for vacancies in accordance with their eligibility and seniority, he said.

The minister also said the government was addressing procedural delays in the counselling schedule to ensure that future exercises were conducted on time and similar administrative complications were avoided.