GMERS conducts interviews for contractual recruitment of Assistant Professors
Ahmedabad: After a gap of two years, the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) has recently conducted interviews for recruitment of the position of contractual Assistant Professor at three of its major medical colleges and hospitals.
The recruitment for a 12-month contractual basis was conducted on December 21 (Thursday) by the authorities of GMERS for medical colleges in Sola (Ahmedabad), Gandhinagar, and Gotri (Vadodara).
Even though the recruitment process took place after a two-year break, it has posed challenges for the teachers who have complained that instead of addressing the pay disparity issue, the government proceeded with the recruitment process.
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The GMERS teachers emphasized that Assistant professors receive a lower pay scale compared to Senior Residents, and additionally, they are not eligible for promotion or continuation of service due to their contractual basis.
According to data shared by Ahmedabad Mirror, Class-I Assistant Professors receive Rs 89,400 per month which is less than the pay scale of Class-II Senior Residents (SRs) who are also fourth-year medical students and addressed as junior doctors receive a stipend of Rs 92,400.
Talking about this, a Head of Department at a GMC said, “Not only the remuneration of APs is less than that of SRs, but APs also have to pay taxes, while the stipend of SRs is tax-free.”
Similarly, a senior GMERS Professor informed The Daily, “Contractual APs are not just getting less pay than their SRs, but are also not liable for promotion or continuation of service since it’s a 12-month contract.”
It's noted that the pay discrepancy exists in nine major medical colleges and civil hospitals across six Government Medical Colleges in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Rajkot.
The issue now resurfaced in response to the strike held by junior doctors in May 2021 where they demanded a higher stipend. During that time, the then health minister Nitin Patel agreed to increase the stipend to Rs 92,400. However, the state government failed to make adjustments to the salary structure for contractual Assistant Professors, causing their salary to remain at Rs 89,400.
Hence, the contractual teaching faculty have expressed their displeasure with the GMERS continuing the recruitment process without increasing their pay scale.
In response to the issue, Principal Secretary of Health, Dhananjay Dwivedi said, “This matter is being examined by the government. However, in the meantime, regular work cannot be stopped.”
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