Govt docs oppose pay panel proposal

An association of resident doctors has opposed the seventh pay commission’s proposal to reduce non-practicing allowance (NPA), which, it said, may lead to exodus of doctors from government hospitals to private set ups.

The commission recommended decreasing the NPA from the current 25 per cent to 20 per cent of the basic pay. NPA is given to doctors in states where private practice along with government service is not allowed. In Delhi, for instance, government doctors can’t do private practice.

The commission was approached to hike the NPA to 40 per cent of the basic pay. Instead, the panel cut it down, triggering a sense of resentment among the resident doctors, who take on bulk of the load in government hospitals.

Moreover, the pay commission proposed to calculate the house rent allowance on the basic pay rather than sticking to the previous formula of calculating the HRA on the combined value of basic pay and NPA.

“There is already a discrepancy between the remuneration of doctors working in the government sector and those in private hospitals. With this pay commission, there will be a higher degree of discrepancy. It will give a great blow on the retention of good doctors in government sector,” said Pankaj Solanki, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, Delhi.

Typically, resident doctors have six-seven years of experience. After completing the residency, they are absorbed as assistant professors. Solanki claims in government hospitals in Delhi an assistant professor gets a monthly salary of about Rs 85,000 while in private hospitals, doctors join as junior consultant with a starting package of Rs 2-2.5 lakh.

A 2013 study that compares the profile of 800 medical students from public and private medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh found barely any difference between the two groups in their motives for joining medicine or career aspirations.

Close to 40 per cent were willing to work in a rural area for 2 years after graduating and public school students were more willing to do so, found the study published in the journal BMC Medical Education.