Shortage of Specialists: Uttarakhand introduces new schemes to lure doctors with upto Rs 4 lakh monthly salary

Dehradun: With an aim to deal with severe shortage of specialists and super-specialist doctors, the State Health Department of Uttarakhand is planning to introduce new schemes such as offering attractive salaries to specialist doctors to lure them.

In some cases, the State Government is hiring doctors on contractual basis through Uttarakhand Health Systems Development Project and National Health Mission.

Recently the State has also introduced an attractive scheme 'You Quote We Pay', under which, specialist doctors are hired through the National Health Mission (NHM). Under this scheme, the doctors get paid up to Rs 4 lakh monthly salary and the minimum salary is Rs 2.5 lakh.

Doctors are hired under the 'You Quote We Pay' scheme on the basis of their merit and experience. According to requirements, the doctors get posted in the medical health education and treatment.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported about the prevailing shortage of doctors and nursing staff in Uttarakhand. In order to deal with it, the Health Secretary of the State Dr R Rajesh Kumar had informed that the government is considering giving more salaries to specialist doctors to attain the aim.

"Apart from this PPP model has been adopted so that human resources can be increased. The department does not have any transfer policy, due to which the problem is coming. If the recruitment is done through the PPP model in this field, then this problem can be overcome to a great extent," he had earlier mentioned.

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As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, the data from the State Health Department has revealed that among the 1,254 sanctioned posts of specialists and super-specialist doctors in the State, only 515 posts have been filled- resulting in a shortage of around 59%.

At present, the State only has one government cardiologist, one government oncologist, one neurosurgeon, and one urologist for catering to the population of around one crore.

When questioned about the reason responsible for the shortage of specialists at government hospitals, a super-specialist doctor posted at Government Doon medical College and Hospital in Dehradun mentioned on the condition of anonymity, “The workload on the super specialists whose number is the bare minimum in the state is above normal.”

“It’s not just about the shortage of doctors, but about the poor infrastructure. Our hospital, the biggest government hospital in the state capital, doesn’t have required machines in various departments,” added the doctor.

In order to deal with the shortage of specialist doctors in the State, the Health Department is planning to introduce new schemes that includes the plans for offering attractive salaries to specialist doctors.

While commenting on the matter, the Secretary of Health, R Rajesh Kumar added, “Against the requirement of 1,254 specialists and super-specialist doctors, we have 515 such doctors. However, we are trying to fill that gap. On contract, 37 specialist doctors through Uttarakhand Health Systems Development Project (UKHSDP – a World Bank-funded project) and National Health Mission (NHM) are working with us.”

Referring to the shortage of cardiologists and the scarcity of super-specialist doctors in the State, he further mentioned, “Under public-private partnership (PPP) mode, Meditrina Hospital is providing around four cardiologists to run the cardiac care centre in Coronation Hospital in Dehradun. Besides, we provide MD medicine doctors short-term cardiology training from AIIMS, Rishikesh, making them capable of handling basic cardiology-related ailments.”

He also pointed out that the State had implemented 'You Quote We Pay' scheme last year and added, “In the first round of’ You Quote, We Pay scheme’, 18 specialist doctors have been selected...Many rounds of selection are being planned to enlist more specialist doctors.”

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