GIMS faculty pay to be on par with Lucknow’s SGPGI

› Since GIMS has performed exceptionally, the faculties here will soon get salaries equal to their counterparts in SGPGI, Lucknow SURESH KHANNA, UP FM

NOIDA: Salaries of all faculty members of the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) will be now be equal those of their counterparts at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI), Lucknow, said Suresh Kumar Khanna, the Uttar Pradesh minister for minister for finance, parliamentary affairs and medical education departments.

While taking stock of preparedness in tackling the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic at GIMS, Khanna spoke to five infected patients lodged in the

Institute’s isolation ward over the phone.

“I am really happy to hear from them that they are getting the best treatment at GIMS. The hospitals treating Covid-19 patients will not have to worry about funds, as our government is taking all possible efforts to ensure maximum recovery rate of Covid-19 patients. I have asked the directors of GIMS and Specialty Paediatric Hospital and Post Graduate Teaching Institute (commonly known as Child PGI), to send their requisition for establishing additional 100 beds for Covid-19 patients in their hospitals,” he said.

Appreciating the efforts of doctors working in the Covid-19 ward of GIMS, Khanna said their services can’t be equated with words or remunerations. “It is the selfless services given by the doctors that the fatality rate in UP is less than many smaller states. Since GIMS has performed exceptionally with its limited resources, the faculties here will soon get salaries equal to their counterparts in SGPGI,” he said.

After learning that 451 Covid-19 patients have been cured and discharged, out of the 605 patients admitted so far in GIMS, the minister asked its director Dr Rakesh Gupta to enhance its capacity of beds from existing 150 to 250.

Dr Gupta said that the minister’s words will boost the morale of all the staff. “Presently, the basic salary of a professor in SGPGI is around Rs 1,64,000, while in GIMS, it is about 1,40,000. If teachers here get salaries equal to their SGPGI counterparts, we can expect better faculties,” he said.

When Dr Gupta informed the minister that several demands, including allotment of land for permanent premises of medical college and hospital, sanction of 18 post-graduate seats despite getting clearance from directorate of national board (DNB) and establishment of trauma centre and dialysis in the hospital are lying pending at the government level, the minister asked him send to the proposal again.

Khanna also asked the director of Child PGI to send his hospital’s proposal of pending demands to the government. Despite repeated attempts, however, Child PGI director Dr DK Gupta could not be contacted for a comment.