Maharashtra Doctors Earning upto Rs 3 lakh per month for Rural Posting

Mumbai: Salary negotiation seems to be a fruitful approach when it comes to enticing medical professionals to work in rural areas. This comes in view of the fact that after Karnataka, the Maharashtra government's scheme for salary bidding has received a tremendous response.

According to recent State health ministry data, with the launch of the scheme, specialists employed with this new approach have been able to earn as much as Rs 3 lakh per month. This is in sharp contrast to that salary bracket that Specialists received last year which ranged from Rs 50,000 to Rs 90,000 per month.

This comes under a Maharashtra scheme that was announced six months ago that allows these specialists to claim their desired salaries while also offering to provide additional incentives. State officials confirmed that private doctors were allowed to negotiate only after government hospitals reported an acute shortage of specialists.

It is reported that until October last year, there was a percentage of posts vacant of certain specialities including anaesthetists with 64 % in 648 posts, pediatricians with 35 % in 561 posts and gynaecologists with 26 % in 612 posts. Viewing the massive vacancy rate, the state government decided to allow private doctors to negotiate their salary in tribal and Maoist-affected regions. In other areas, it offered a salary along with incentives: {A, B and C being the regions where the scheme would be rolled out depending on the proportion of remoteness and difficulty in delivering services.}

The breakup included as following

Basic Pay Division:

Gynaecologist: Willing to join a centre in a district under grade A to be given a basic salary of Rs 70,000 (for a minimum of five c-section surgeries per month), while those joining grade B and C centres will come under the slab of Rs.60,000 and Rs.50,000, respectively.

Paediatrician: Basic salary -Rs. 1 lakh in a grade A centre (for attending a minimum of five c-section surgeries per month), Rs. 85,000 in Grade B and Rs.75,000 in a Grade C centre.

Anaesthetist: To be Rs. 4,000 per case, irrespective of whether the surgery is a major or minor one.

Additional Emergency Service Charges:

Gynaecologist: To be paid Rs. 4,000 for every c-section or complicated surgery, Rs.1, 500 for assisted delivery and Rs. 400 for every two ultrasound investigations.

Pediatrician: To be paid Rs. 2,000 for attending to a newborn emergency.

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After these incentives were announced, around 142 gynaecologists, 143 anaesthetists and 71 pediatricians have been hired under the new scheme. Currently, according to a latest state Health Ministry data, out of the 356 specialists who have been appointed since the announcement of the scheme:

• 12 earn a monthly salary package of over Rs 3 lakh,


• 12 earn between Rs 2-3 lakh,


• Rest earn below Rs 1 lakh.

At least 12 gynecologists and anesthetists have bargained for a pay package of over Rs 3 lakh per month to serve in rural districts of Beed, Raigad, Yawatmal and Chandrapur.

Subsequent to the appointments, in June alone, the state recorded the following number of cases conducted by the newly appointed specialists in rural and tribal regions:

• 4,437 Caesarean deliveries by gynaecologists,


• 1,021 major surgeries by anaesthetists


• 2,606 emergency pediatric cases

Now, the state health ministry has planned to expand the scope of salary negotiation to all other 12 specialities including ENT, Dermatology, and General Surgery adds The Indian Express.

However, money didn't prove to be a mandatory element in some districts like Nandurbar, Thane, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Jalna, Bhandara and Gondia as these areas lack proper accommodation, proper toilets as well as infrastructure adds the daily

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