Major Stipend Hike: Resident Doctors in Punjab to now get Rs 17,000 to Rs 19,000 more
Chandigarh: Fulfilling the long pending demands of the resident doctors working in the Government medical colleges in Punjab, the State Government has increased their stipend by around Rs 17,000 to Rs 19,000 after almost a decade.
With such a decision of the Government, now the Junior resident doctors in the State will now receive an amount of Rs 67,968 per month and the Senior Resident Doctors and the Tutors will get around Rs 81,562 per month.
The confirmation in this regard came from an order issued on August 5, 2022 by the Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER).
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that complaining about the hefty amount of fees that the post-graduate resident doctors in Punjab need to pay for their education, the resident doctors in the State had previously written to the Chief Minister of the State.
The PG resident doctors working in several Government Medical colleges and hospitals of the State had requested the government to waive off the huge PG medical education fees, i.e. Rs 2 lakh per annum and increase the amount of stipend, which was far lower than when compared to other States.
When the doctors in Punjab pay probably the highest fees i.e. Rs 2 lakh per annum they used to receive a meagre amount of Rs 49,000 per month as a stipend. The amount is Rs 55,000 per month for the Senior residents.
Also Read: Huge Fees, Minimal Stipend: Problems of Punjab Resident Doctors persist
Such an amount of stipend was really meagre when compared with the resident doctors in other states. While the PG residents in Delhi pay Rs 15,600 per year for their education and receive Rs 97,000- Rs 110,000 per month as stipend. The cost of PG medical education in Haryana and PGI Chandigarh is Rs 58,739 per annum and Rs 2,485 per year respectively, whereas the Resident doctors receive a huge salary in return. The amount of stipend for Resident doctors in Haryana ranges from Rs 70,000- Rs 90,000 per month, and PGI Chandigarh offers Rs 85,000- Rs 110,000 per month to its resident doctors as stipend.
Last year, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) had raised the issue as well and the association had referred to the striking contrast.
Finally, the Punjab Government has increased the stipend for the Junior and Senior Resident doctors. As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, issuing an order in this regard, the Punjab DMER stated, "Junior and senior residents will get fixed emoluments according to the table, without any yearly promotion and increment. In future, if there is an increase in DA or NPA by the state government, it will not be implemented for them. The tutors who have the qualification of MD or MBBS, they will get honorarium same as senior residents (including NPA) and other tutors will get stipend same as junior residents."
