The Union Cabinet on Tuesday decided to raise the salaries of the faculty of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and four other medical institutes of excellence, and bring them at par with what is offered in the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management.
Doctors-cum-teachers at the AIIMS, Delhi; the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry; the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore; and the Northeastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Shillong, will benefit from the parity of pay scales with the IITs and IIMs.
Long-pending demand
This was a long-pending demand of the AIIMS faculty who claimed that being doctors they were working more than the faculty of the other institutes of excellence.
Earlier, the Health Ministry’s pay parity proposal was objected to by the Finance Ministry and the matter debated at a previous Cabinet meeting, following which the Cabinet Secretary looked into it.
With the pay revision, 40 per cent of medical professors will now get the scales of Additional Secretary, earlier limited to 25 per cent, and faster promotions.
The Health Ministry believes that this hike would check poaching of faculty by private hospitals and medical colleges.
2,400 members to benefit
The decision is expected to benefit about 2,400 faculty members of the five medical institutes.
The outgo for the government will be Rs. 91 crore. The new salaries will be applicable from January 1, 2006 while allowances will be given with effect from August 1, 2008.
As against the existing basic salary of Rs. 18,400, a professor will take home Rs. 62,100 including academic grade pay, perks and dearness allowance. An additional professor will get Rs. 55,500 (all perks included) against the existing basic pay of Rs. 16,400, while an associate professor would draw Rs. 51,800 up from the current basic pay of Rs. 14,300. An assistant professor’s salary would be Rs. 38,000 against the current basic salary of Rs. 11,625.
