HP hikes pay for medicos on Covid duty from ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 a month
Final year nursing students will be paid ₹6,000 and contractual laboratory staff will get ₹5,000 a month
After drawing flak for roping in medical interns and MBBS final year students in the battle against Covid-19 by paying them a paltry sum of ₹3,000, the health department has increased the incentive for medicos to ₹10,000 a month to overcome the staff crunch.
Two days ago, the government announced that final year MBBS and nursing students and contractual doctors shall be deployed in Covid hospitals till June 30.
Also read: Covid-19: What you need to know today
The health department fixed ₹3,000 a month as incentive for final year MBBS students, junior and senior residents and contractual doctors. It announced that nursing students, contractual laboratory staff and general nursing and midwifery (GNM) third-year students will be given ₹1,500 a month for working at Covid care facilities.
In the fresh notification, the government raised the incentive for final year MBBS students, junior and senior residents and contractual doctors to ₹10,000 a month. BSc nursing and MSc third-year students will now be paid ₹6,000 a month and contractual laboratory staff will get ₹5,000 a month.
Himachal Pradesh is reporting more than 2,500 Covid-19 cases daily for the past week. Kangra, Solan, Una, Mandi and Shimla districts are the worst hit.
The state recorded 3,942 fresh Covid-19 infections on Thursday, the highest single-day spike since the outbreak for the second consecutive day, taking the state’s total caseload to 1,18,729. The death toll mounted to 1,707 after 45 more patients succumbed to the contagion.
