NEW DELHI: Nearly 500 doctors who were among the founding members of the Delhi Health Service (DHS) are facing drastic cuts in their pension benefits, blaming the government’s disregard of their earlier years of service.
Though initially hired on a contract and ad hoc basis between 1996 and 2005 and later regularised in 2012, their service has only been counted from 2009 after new recruitment rules were notified.
As a result, many senior doctors, including surgeons and top health officials, are now eligible for pensions of just up to Rs 8,000 a month despite serving the capital’s healthcare system for decades, they claimed.
One senior surgeon, posted at a government hospital, expressed his frustration over the pension cuts.
“If the previous years of service were considered, the pension would come around Rs 1.5 lakh monthly. But due to the government’s negligence, the pension I am receiving is only about Rs 8-10 thousand,” he said.
The affected doctors have written to Delhi Health Minister Dr Pankaj Singh, urging the government to reconsider their long-standing contribution.
In their letter, the doctors stated, “We would like to bring to your kind notice that we were initially appointed on a contract/adhoc basis between 1996 and 2005 by the Delhi Government after due selection procedures were followed, i.e., open advertisements, written tests and interviews by a duly constituted selection Board.
The doctors argue that after years of uninterrupted service, they were caught in limbo due to the absence of formal recruitment rules at the time.
“In light of continuing uncertainty over the fate of these Delhi Government appointed contract/adhoc doctors, after a decade of their dedicated uninterrupted service and in the absence of any rules, Delhi Health Services was constituted by the Delhi Cabinet on 13/11/2006 and approved by Hon’ble L-G, separating Delhi Health Service from CHS cadre in 2007,” the letter stated.
They pointed out that while their initial appointment dates have been acknowledged for seniority purposes by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, these dates are not recognised for promotion or pension benefits.
The doctors now request that the government acknowledge their years of continuous service and treat them as government employees for the purpose of promotion and pension benefits.
“In view of the above facts, as we are the founding members of the Delhi Health Service, we have been wrongly deprived of our past continuous long service benefits. We respectfully request that the Government of NCT of Delhi acknowledge our 13-14 years of continuous service from our initial appointment dates and treat us as government employees for the Promotion & Pension benefits,” the letter added.