Health and Devaswom Minister K Muraleedharan on Monday directed that vacancies in various wings of the Health Department be reported to the Public Service Commission (PSC) without delay. The move comes amid concerns raised by PSC rank holders over unreported vacancies in the department.

The directive calls for an urgent review of all PSC-reportable vacancies in institutions and offices under the Health Department, Medical Education Department and Ayush Department, followed by the necessary steps to report them.

Instructions are also to be issued to department heads and subordinate institutions to ensure that vacancies are reported promptly. The Additional Chief Secretary of the Health Department has been specifically directed to prioritise the reporting of vacancies linked to PSC rank lists that are nearing expiry.

The Minister’s intervention follows a petition submitted by PSC rank holders, who alleged that several existing vacancies in the Health Department had not been reported to the Commission. Muraleedharan said the concerns raised by job aspirants were serious, particularly fears that eligible candidates could lose appointment opportunities due to delays in vacancy reporting.

Reaffirming the government’s commitment to ensuring transparent and timely appointments through the PSC, the Minister said the move was also aimed at strengthening services in hospitals, medical education institutions and Ayush centres across the state. He added that the initiative would help ensure appointment opportunities for eligible candidates included in the PSC rank lists.

Earlier, the state government proposed a comprehensive exercise to identify vacancies across government departments and public sector institutions and report them to the PSC. It called for a special mechanism to be put in place to identify posts that have not yet been reported to the PSC, with the progress of vacancy reporting reviewed monthly.

To improve transparency, the government also called for a digital dashboard that will allow the public to track vacancies already reported to the PSC, posts yet to be reported and the status of recruitment processes.