A strange situation prevails at the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS). The candidates, selected in 2019, have not been issued appointment orders, so far, while the doctors, appointed to deal with the pandemic situation, have not been paid salaries for the past three months, reportedly due to procedural issues.
The 650-bed hospital, has around 150 doctors, with about 100 of them deputed from Andhra Medical College (AMC) recently.
Appointment of doctors
The hospital was inaugurated in 2016, and since then all the doctors are being deputed from other hospitals. In early 2019, a hue and cry was raised by the public on the lack of full-time doctors and the need to improve amenities at the hospital.
Subsequently, applications were called for appointment of doctors on contract basis, and a merit list was prepared. But, the appointment orders have not been issued to this day. “There are over 90 candidates, selected for appointment on three-year contract. We had represented the matter to the authorities at various levels but nothing has happened,” said one of the doctors, who was shortlisted for appointment.
Pay anomalies
The pay scales of the doctors, who were selected on contract basis, last year, were fixed on the basis of the 7th Pay Commission, while the pay scales of the existing State government doctors have not been revised since 2006.
This will result in a huge anomaly in the pay scales of fresh recruits and senior doctors.
The recruitment process was stopped following an objection raised in the Finance Department on the plea that the anomaly would cause disharmony among the two groups of doctors, say sources in the Medical and Health Department.
“I have taken the issue to the notice of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, when he invited suggestions during the ‘Mana palana – mee suchana.’ I told him that pay revision will boost the morale of the doctors in the pandemic situation,” P.V. Sudhakar, Principal, Andhra Medical College, told The Hindu , when his attention was drawn to the issue.
About 60 doctors were recruited for rendering COVID-19 duties in the district. A few of them were deputed to VIMS and to the quarantine centres, while most of the remaining doctors were deputed to the ‘Mukhyamantri Aarogya Kendralu’ in the district. Dr. Sudhakar attributed the delay in payment of salaries to these doctors to procedural issues.
Once they are sorted out, doctors would start getting their salaries regularly, he added.
