HYDERABAD: The State government’s eye-screening programme, Kanti Velugu, was lauded as a success, catering to over 1.9 crore people. However, several doctors who were part of the screening centres across the State have claimed that they have not received their salaries for the last two-four months.
A doctor, who was a part of a camp in Hyderabad district, claimed “Most of us have not been paid for the last two months of the programme, yet. We have submitted representations to every possible government official, the Principal Secretary, the Commissioner of Health and Director of Medical Education’s office, but to no avail,” he said.
Another doctor, on the condition of anonymity, explained that lofty promises were made during the training and recruitment programme. “We were first told that doctors would be paid Rs 40,000 per month when the notification was issued, later we were explained that AYUSH doctors would be paid Rs 30,000 whereas MBBS doctors would be paid Rs 40,000. We also told that the salaries would be credited on the 30th of every month. Though we did not believe these claims, we did not expect the salaries to be delayed this long. Hyderabad itself had some 92 camps. Each camp had one doctor, two optometrist and two data entry operators. No one has been paid yet,’’ he added.
Dr Venkat J, the district medical health officer (DMHO) for Hyderabad said, “We are yet to get the budget. We have written to the Director of Health. Most probably, the funds should be released in a week.”
However the DMHO for Medchal district, Dr Narayana Rao said, “We too have written to the Director of Health, but haven’t received any response. We have no idea when the funds will be released.”
On the other hand, senior officials from the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare said, “Only the last phase of the salaries are yet to be credited. It depends from district to district. It is not a state-wide issue.”