Coming to the rescue of centrally funded autonomous medical institutions asked by the Union Finance Ministry to generate 30% of the additional costs incurred on implementing the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, the Union Health Ministry has submitted 13 proposals to the Finance Ministry seeking relaxation of the condition.
This was after most medical institutions expressed their inability to meet the condition without passing on the additional burden to patients and students.
Faggan Singh Kulaste, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said in a written reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on April 11 that it was not mandatory for the institutions to meet the condition. “Therefore, the [Health] Ministry has submitted 13 proposals so far to the Finance Ministry for relaxation,” he stated.
The Finance Ministry circular dated January 13 to centrally funded autonomous institutions had left them wondering how they could meet the added costs without passing on the burden to patients. The Hindu reported the issue on March 21, pointing out many institutions had written to the Finance Ministry’s Department of Expenditure explaining the difficulty.
If implemented, the circular will impact nearly 600 autonomous bodies in the country, including major hospitals such as the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences. Apart from these, around 200 commodity bodies outside the purview of the Health Ministry, and an equal number of research organisations and educational institutions including Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, will also be affected. The worst affected will be hospitals, which will inevitably have to increase patient charges.
Sources in the Health Ministry said it is not just the healthcare institutions that have expressed inability to meet the condition. “A similar request has been made by the autonomous educational institutions as well, and the Finance Ministry is examining it case by case,” a senior official said.
Recommendations yet to be implemented
Although the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations were to be implemented with effect from January 1, except for a few organisations that are self-sufficient, including the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Employees Provident Fund Organisation, and Employees State Insurance Corporation, no one has done so, an official told The Hindu .
Sources said the move asking autonomous institutions to generate 30% of the additional costs was aimed at bringing in “financial discipline” in the institutions.
M. Krishnan, secretary general of the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, said several autonomous institutions were set up with a purpose to be fulfilled within a specified time frame. “However, most of them are continuing on indefinitely and have made recruitments according to their requirement. The Centre has been paying [for them] all these years. The Finance Ministry was keen on studying the financial viability, profitability and performance of these bodies before announcing the pay commission. However, following pressure from organisations such as ours, the Seventh Pay Commission was announced with these conditions,” he said.
Saying the confederation has brought to the Finance Ministry’s notice the difficulty faced by medical and educational autonomous institutions, he expressed hope that they would be exempted from meeting the condition.
