Resident doctors to get hardship payout for risking infections

NEW DELHI: Resident doctors may get a hardship allowance of ~ 5,000-~7000 for risking infections from needle-prick wounds or cuts suffered while treating patients, officials familiar with the matter said.

The Union health ministry approved the allowance last year and sent the proposal to the government’s economic affairs department for review. “…we may also seek comments of Integrated Finance Division [IFD] in this matter,” reads the health ministry proposal forwarded to the finance department.

“The health ministry in-principle approved adding the risk hardship allowance for resident doctors, but this would require changes in the residency clause as it would apply to all resident doctors across India,” said a health ministry official on condition of anonymity.

According to the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations on allowance resolution, risk hardship allowance is applicable only to doctors working in high-active field areas such as border areas or where there is an epidemic or counter-insurgency operations in field areas.

“Since the move would require the salary structure of the residents to be altered, we had to forward the proposal to the finance department. The file is with them and the ultimate decision will also be theirs,” the official added.

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) is demanding the implementation of the risk hardship allowance for resident doctors from the coming academic session in May.

“Our profession is full of risks as, at the first point of contact with a patient, there is no way we can know about their HIV, viral hepatitis or swine flu etc status. And when you are working in such a high-pressure environment, accidents do occur. Besides, residents do not have fixed work hours and do not get compensated for long hours. This demand is just,” said Dr Sumedh Sandanshiv, president, FORDA.

“In the cath lab where I work, a needle-prick injury is very common, as is catching seasonal flu. In the ophthalmology department, contracting conjunctivitis is common,” says Dr Amarendra Singh, president, resident doctors’ association, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

Resident doctors, especially those working in the emergency department, have also been demanding risk allowance because of the steadily growing instances of being manhandled by patients’ attendants.