Chandigarh: Panel to evaluate salary rates for contractual doctors under NHM

Under the chairmanship of Yashpal Garg, secretary, health-cum-chairperson, executive committee, a meeting was held to discuss and deliberate on 13 agenda items at Chandigarh Housing Board, Sector 9, on Monday

The executive committee of State Health Society, National Health Mission (NHM), will evaluate the base salary rates of specialist doctors and medical officers hired on contractual basis in Chandigarh, comparing them with other Union territories.

Salaries for 47 posts, including 22 posts of specialists and 25 posts of medical officers, are being met through the state budget. The rate for outsourced staff in Punjab is ₹50,000 and in Haryana, it is ₹65,000. (HT)

The committee will analyse additional factors and present a report during the next executive committee meeting. Presently, the base salary rates for contractual specialists and medical officers under NHM are considerably lower than their counterparts hired by the Chandigarh health department.

Under the chairmanship of Yashpal Garg, secretary, health-cum-chairperson, executive committee, a meeting was held to discuss and deliberate on 13 agenda items at Chandigarh Housing Board, Sector 9, on Monday.

Dr Suman Singh, mission director, NHM, giving details of the findings of the committee’s salary comparison on June 15, said specialist doctors were currently receiving a base salary of ₹75,000 per month, while medical officers were receiving ₹45,000 per month under NHM, along with an additional ₹5,000 incentive for shift duties. However, in the health department, specialists receive a base salary between ₹1-1.5 lakh, and medical officers receive ₹72,072.

Salaries for 47 posts, including 22 posts of specialists and 25 posts of medical officers, are being met through the state budget. The rate for outsourced staff in Punjab is ₹50,000 and in Haryana, it is ₹65,000.

The lesser salary is not only affecting quality of manpower but also resulting in high turnover. The doctors selected after lot of efforts were leaving the job whenever getting better opportunities, added Dr Singh.

A committee, comprising mission director (NHM), nodal officer NHM and director of finance of NHM, has been constituted under the chairmanship of the additional secretary of health to examine the matter of the base rate of salary for these positions. This matter was brought up for discussion under the agenda item in an executive committee meeting held on January 30.

The committee acknowledged the information and requested to gather the rates of medical officers/specialists under NHM from other UTs for the committee’s review and subsequent recommendations.