A message is going viral in social media and messaging platforms in Assam, which claims that the majority of recently appointed doctors are from the minority community. A three-page list of newly appointed doctors is also being shared, with the claim that out of 55 doctors recently appointed by the Assam Public Service Commission, 34 are religious minorities, which means 64% are minorities or Muslims.
A perusal of the list does show that it has a majority of Muslim names. But the claim is misleading, as the list is not the full list of the newly appointed government doctors in Assam. In fact, the text accompanying the list makes it clear that it is not a selection list, but a transfer list.
The order issued by the Health and Family Welfare department says, “In partial modification of this Department Notification No.HLA.1/2023/94 dated 19/01/2023 and in the interest of public service the following newly appointed doctors in the rank of M&HO-I are hereby modified their place of posting against their name(s) with immediate effect and until further order.” The original PDF of the list can be accessed here.
This makes it clear that the order has been issued to modify a previous order dated 19 January. According to this order, the place of posting of 55 doctors has been changed from the original place of posting mentioned in the previous order. Therefore, this list includes only those doctors who have been posted to different places from what was mentioned earlier. Of this list, 64% are Muslim names.
This order mentions an earlier order dated 19 January 2023, which was regarding the appointment of new Medical and Health Officers-1 in Assam. In that list, 541 doctors are named who have been selected for posting in various govt hospitals and health centres after a selection process. The PDF of that order can be accessed here.
While the list of 541 doctors does not mention their religions, OpIndia tried to guestimate their religion on the basis of their names and surnames. According to our analysis, out of 541 newly appointed Medical and Health Officers-1, 183 are Muslims. This means, around 34% are Muslims, not 64%.
While there could be a few errors in determining the religion from the names, the error level will be narrow as Muslims have distinctive names and surnames in Assam, like other states in India.
Although 34% share of Muslims still seems on the higher side going by the national share, it is actually a normal number for Assam. Because it is almost similar to the Muslim population share in Assam.
According to the 2011 census of Assam, the share of Muslims in the total population of the state is 34%. Therefore, the share of Muslims in the newly appointed government doctors list matches with the overall share of Muslims in the state.
Therefore, the claim that 64% of the new govt doctors appointed in Assam are minorities is incorrect, as that list is the list of doctors whose places of posting have been changed.
The message also claims that the doctors have been appointed by the Assam Public Service Commission, which is also incorrect. As seen in both the orders, the Medical and Health Officers have been appointed by the Health & Family Welfare Department of the Assam government, on the recommendation of the Medical and Health Recruitment Board, Assam. APSC recruits state civil servants and other government officials, not doctors.
