Contract med staff complain of irregular salaries and pressure to discontinue

CHENNAI: Members of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association (TNMSA) have urged the Directorate of Medical Education to regularise payments of contract staff as many of them have not received payments for over six months. Students also claimed that they are being forced to breach the contract and leave.

Additional appointment of contract staff members for the medical college hospitals was done to avail adequate staff during the pandemic. However, many of them have not received their salaries.

“While doctors who have been on contract work for six months have not been paid, many doctors have reported that various medical college administrations are pressuring them to leave before the term ends. Accommodation facilities for doctors have been cut off and they are being told to work without leave on a series of assignments,” said K Ganapathy Subramaniyam, general secretary of TNMSA.

Medicos say they are overworked and non-payment of salaries discourages the frontline workers. “The pressure of discontinuation of the contracts before the completion had upset many of us. The contract workers shared the burden of healthcare crisis during the pandemic and it is a humiliation if we are forced to give up on the contracts,” said Dr N Hareesh, a member of TNMSA.

The contract medical staff in government medical colleges have also sought the intervention of Health Minister Ma Subramanian and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan to resolve the issue. The officials from the Directorate of Medical Education said the demand for regularisation of salaries has been raised.

“No orders of discontinuation of contracts have been moved. Voluntary discontinuation of services is accepted. However, the medical college administration will also be informed to ensure that no one is forced to end the contract,” said a senior official from the Directorate of Medical Education.