Overworked HBT clinic doctors face salary delays for months

Mumbai: For the past few months, doctors working at Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray (HBT) clinics in Mumbai have not been paid their salaries and incentives

Mumbai: For the past few months, doctors working at Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray (HBT) clinics in Mumbai have not been paid their salaries and incentives. An HBT clinic doctor’s salary is around ₹70,000 per month and they are paid an incentive of ₹40 per patient if they see more than 50 patients a day. At present, close to 120 doctors are working in the 107 HBT clinics that operate to date. HBT is among the civic body’s most ambitious healthcare projects aimed at strengthening primary healthcare across the city.

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“Our salaries are paid by the ward office we come under. For example, if I am attached to an HBT clinic falling under the jurisdiction of the F-South ward, my salary will be paid by the F-South ward office. Most of us have been facing non-payment of salaries and we have raised our concerns with the local ward officer and medical officer,” said an HBT clinic doctor whose January and February salary is due. The doctor joined at the end of December.

He added, “We came across doctors who were not paid salaries and incentives since October. There are many who have not received incentives too.”

Another HBT clinic doctor said that in some wards, the BMC has managed to clear salaries till January. “We raised our concern over the irregularities in paying our salaries. We were assured that there won’t be a delay from April 1,” said a doctor, who works in the HBT clinic in the western suburbs.

“The BMC officer sensed that we might leave because of the delay in salaries and asked us to stay put. However, for us, it is becoming financially tough to sustain if salaries are not paid on time,” said the doctor. He added that ward officers told them they did not have enough funds to release the salary. “They said initially BMC had planned for only 50 HBT clinics and gradually scale it up. However, there was a rapid expansion and as a result, 107 HBT clinics were started. The funds for the same were not allocated. Now that the budget has been passed, they said we will get our salaries on time from April,” said the doctor.

The HBT clinics are seeing a good response. Doctors said some clinics are seeing 50-60 patients on average in the mornings. “In the evenings, the numbers double up. Most of them are cases of viral infection. We are also screening for diabetes and hypertension,” said a doctor.

Calling it an initial hurdle, Dr Sanjeev Kumar, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, said he has taken a meeting of all ward officers and doctors, and instructed them to release the salaries immediately. “The instruction of releasing the salary immediately has been given to the ward officers. I will look into the matter if there are still delays happening,” he said.