Mangaluru: Health and family welfare minister UT Khader on Sunday asserted that the department will sort out the issue related to the shortage of doctors and disparity in the salary of contract-based government doctors.
Speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of a program at Wenlock Hospital here, Khader said that he was silenced by the outburst during the assembly sessions. The shortage of doctors existed in the department since ten years. There are not many takers for contract-based government doctors, he said.
Khader said that the opposition members did not allow him to respond to the questions. “I had come with an answer but I was silenced by the outburst of the opposition members. The disparity in the salary of doctors, who are working on contract, is a communication error on part of DHOs of certain districts,” Khader said.
Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa had expressed anger over shortage of doctors and disparity in the salary of doctors on contract in government hospitals when the issue was raised by members in the Assembly. It was brought to the notice of the chair in the Assembly by former minister Vishweshar Hegde Kageri and other members that the salary of doctors on contract was reduced by half.
Khader told reporters here that the disparity noticed only at few places due to oversight on part of DHOs. “As per the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations of 2007, the salary of doctors on contract in government hospitals was Rs 28,000, which included dearness allowance of Rs 13,950. However, in the revision of pay scale in 2012 as per Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, the dearness allowance has not been mentioned and this led to disparity at few places leading to decrease in the payment of salary to doctors on contract by half,” he said.
“We have sent a new proposal with an increased dearness allowance of 125.25% to the finance department. Accordingly, the salary of doctors on contract will be around Rs 31,000 once it is approved by the finance department,” he said and added that he would hold discussion with finance department.
