State offers lucrative pay to rural docs

Mumbai: In order to encourage more doctors to work in remote areas of the state, the state government has launched a scheme through which specialist doctors would be paid extra money for every treated or examined case besides their regular base salary. Facing a severe shortage of specialists, the public health department is inviting gynaecologists, paediatricians and anaesthetists for recruitment in about 65 centres across 15 districts, which includes rural, sub-district and district hospitals.

The government aims to hire 500 doctors, who would need to run outpatient clinics, take ward rounds and be available for emergency calls during duty hours for over six days a week. The doctors can also choose to offer only emergency services.

Working in rural areas for a year is a mandatory provision made by the state government for all doctors. If a specialist wants a higher salary he can present himself before the district committee, which would recommend him to the state-level executive committee of the NHM. The district committee is also free to choose the hospital in which postings would be assigned on a priority basis.

Dr Sanjeev Kumar, director (IAS), National Health Mission (NHM), said, “ We want to give good expert medical care at rural level since there is a lack of specialised government doctors in rural and remote areas.”