Health dept favours paying full salary to new doctor recruits

CHANDIGARH: With doctors no longer finding a job with the Punjab health department lucrative because of a relatively meagre salary of Rs 19,000 a month for the three-year probation period, the Congress government is set to pay full salary — Rs 60,000 a month — even to new recruits as medical officers (MOS). This will reverse a decision of the previous SAD-BJP regime.

This comes in light of a situation best illustrated by data: Of the two previous recruitments of doctors, in 2016 as many as 95 of the 345 recruits did not join duty; and another 52 left after joining. In 2015, of the 404 selected, 104 didn’t join and 32 resigned.

As per a decision now put up for a final nod from chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the department has said that the probation period will stay, but the salary will be the full grade. Sources said health minister Brahm Mohindra has pushed the case.

“We cannot compromise with the health of the people at any cost,” Mohindra told HT on Friday, “We have to pay full salary to doctors if we want no crippling of services. After MBBS, nobody will join at such low salary.”

Doctors have also been protesting the move by the SAD-BJP government to increase the probation period from two to three years. But that’s not on the rethink table yet.

“It was a draconian clause (of paying only basic salary in probation), and Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association opposed it. We welcome that the government is finally going to end that,” said association president Dr Gagandeep Singh.

Last year, after 104 selected doctors did not join, the then principal secretary of the health department wrote to the finance department for nod to pay full salary. But the finance department rejected the plea.

What further made the job less lucrative was that MOS hired in the previous two recruitments were supposed to serve in ‘difficult’ and ‘very difficult’ areas.