Bhubaneswar, Apr 10 (IANS): Odisha has hiked the retirement age of 873 doctors working in three of its government-run medical college and hospitals by five years to cover the shortfall in numbers, an official said Wednesday.

The doctors at the medical college and hospitals in Burla in Sambalpur district, Berhampur in Ganjam district and at Cuttack, a district headquarters town, will now retire at the age of 65 instead of 60.

The move would benefit 873 doctors, a senior official of the state health department told IANS.

The state currently has 3,936 doctors working in various government hospitals against the sanctioned posts of 4,362. At least 200 posts are vacant in state medical colleges.

The retirement age of the doctors has been increased as another 200 doctors of the medical college and hospitals would retire in the next five years and the required number of medics are not available to fill the posts.

The state government is also considering raising the retirement age of other doctors, especially those serving in rural areas, from 60 to 62, he said.

Besides, the government is planning to hire some doctors on an ad hoc basis to meet the shortfall, he added.