Doctors in rural Telangana demand equal pay for equal work

Dr Kiran Prakash, member of the Government Doctors Association, said that for equal work, there must be equal pay.
For representational purposes. (File Photo)
For representational purposes. (File Photo)

HYDERABAD: A move by the Department of Health, Medical & Family Welfare of the Telangana government to pay an additional incentive of Rs 50,000 to contractual staff in the peripheral medical colleges has run into controversy with the regularised staff.

The permanent doctors, who are working as faculty in the medical colleges in different districts of the State, allege that they are being paid Rs 25,000 less than their counterparts in Hyderabad.  With this new announcement to pay additional money to contractual staff, it will further intensify the wage gap, they say.

The Government Order 605, issued on October 14, announced an incentive of Rs 50,000 per month to 144 contractual faculty members in the eight new and six existing medical colleges. The move was taken after the positions that were made available remained vacant as doctors opted to work in the city limits and not in the rural districts.

Dr Kiran Prakash, member of the Government Doctors Association, said that for equal work, there must be equal pay. “The State government must realise that there are faculty members who are working in Mahbubnagar, Siddipet, Suryapet and Nalgonda hospitals, which were set up after the formation of Telangana, and they are [being] paid low house rent allowance and salaries. In fact, we are paid Rs 25,000 less than what is being paid in Hyderabad,” he said.He added that owing to the pay gap, there are over 530 vacant posts in Mahabubnagar Government Medical College, resulting in higher workload on the healthcare professionals working there.

208 cases of Covid -19 were recorded in Telangana on Monday after conducting 45,418 tests. On the same day, 201 previously infected individuals recovered, taking the number of active cases to 3,929. Two deaths were also recorded in the State, taking the toll to 3.940. Meanwhile, the highest number of cases came in from GHMC limits of Hyderabad with 62 cases, followed by 14 cases each from Karimnagar and Mancherial districts

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