Maternity Leave Benefits, salary Denied to Tamil Nadu Government Doctors

Chennai: Around 40 In-service Government doctors from Tamil Nadu who had to avail maternity leave while pursuing their postgraduate medical courses back in 2018 have not yet been paid their salaries for the leave period.

Although the University had allowed these In-service doctors to go on maternity leave while pursuing PG medical courses, they were denied right for monthly salaries, confirmed the President of the Legal Coordination Committee for government doctors, Dr. S Peruman Pillai.

Dr. Pillai further informed TOI that following the protocol of the University, the service period of the In-service doctors was extended by a year. However, they did not get their salaries, which is the right of any employee availing maternity leave.

The issue of maternity leave for Postgraduate doctors have been troubling the doctors for a long time. While the Union Government of India has extended the benefit of maternity leave to all the women employees, the situation of PG medical students who undergo three years of training at the medical colleges fall in the grey area since they are considered as doctors undergoing academic training and not as employees.

Recently, the PG Medical Education Board of the National Medical Commission (NMC) addressed the issue of maternity leave for the postgraduate medical students and stated that the matter regarding grant of maternity leave to PG medical students shall be regulated as per respective State Government rules.

Also Read: Maternity leave for PG resident doctors, medicos disappointed with NMC's Cryptic Notice

Clarifying on the issue of Stipend, the Apex medical commission has mentioned that the students pursuing PG medical courses should be paid stipend for extended period of training, if it has not been provided during the leave period. Doctors are disappointed with the notice and they have claimed that that paying stipend for either the leave period or for the extended training period is nothing but "unpaid leave".

While the issue of PG medical students, who are not termed as employees, fall in the grey area, in case of Tamil Nadu, those who have been allegedly denied the maternity benefits were not only PG medical students, but In-service doctors working for the Government.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, a doctor who joined PG course back in 2018 said that she had taken nine months maternity leave and an additional medical leave of three months for taking care of her baby. “At that time, the maternity leave period was only nine months. My baby is now three years old, and I have completed the course. I have re-joined duty but despite several requests, my one-year salary of nearly 8 lakh has not been paid,” she told the daily.

On the condition of anonymity, the concerned doctor added that several of her batchmates were dealing with similar problems. Confirming that there are 40 such women who are facing the problem, Dr Pillai referred to the government rules to claim that all the permanent and married female government employee are entitled to maternity leave on full pay.

“There are several court orders mandating that women must be paid maternity benefits without delay. It is sad that government doctors must face this harassment for four years,” he added.

Mentioning that maternity benefits are a legitimate expectation from the employer, Dr Pillai added, “The demand is from educated women and the violator here is the state government. These demands cannot be ignored any more.”

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Medical Education officials have denied receiving any such complaints from the doctors regarding delayed payment. While commenting on the matter, a senior official told the daily, “In most cases, women get the salaries when they join duty at the station they were posted.”

Also Read: Maternity leave for PG medicos as per State Rules, Stipend if not during leave then in extended period: NMC