TN govt’s revised pay for duty officers leaves doctors disgruntled, sparks exploitation fears

The Tamil Nadu government's recent decision to revise the minimum wage for duty medical officers in private hospitals has received flak from the medical fraternity.

The revision, carried out by the state labour and skill development department, hiked the minimum wage for duty medical officers in private hospitals from Rs 14,875 to Rs 16,057 per month for facilities having between one and 50 beds and from Rs 15,634 to Rs 16,876 per month for those with more than 1,000 beds, depending on the hospital’s location. The move was aimed at standardising wages as per the hospital’s size and location.

Not all were happy with the step. According to some medical experts, the new pay structure is not commensurate with the responsibilities of duty doctors and could see corporate hospitals exploiting them.

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Concerns over 'exploitation'

Dr GR Rabindranath, general secretary of the Doctors Association for Social Equality, expressed similar views.

“This would only lead to private hospitals exploiting the doctors by paying them such low wages. Such practices would discourage doctors from joining the profession. The fixation of minimum wages does not have a specified criterion and is unscientific. Such a move proves that the government is favouring corporate and private hospitals, and such a low wage structure facilitates the exploitation of doctors,” he said.

A cardiologist from Vellore working with a private healthcare institution also conveyed disappointment over the doctors’ pay. He said increasing the number of seats or building new hospitals without ensuring basic facilities or care for the medical experts makes little sense.

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“With regards to doctors' pay, interns and postgraduates are still paid a pittance. Even professors are not paid handsomely, and they compensate by working in outside clinics. Those postgraduates who are married are constantly facing marital issues solely because of financial constraints. Somebody working 36 hours at a stretch and 100-plus work hours a week deserves something more than Rs 40,000 a month. We are not expecting to be paid in lakhs and lakhs, but at least pay the bare minimum,” the Vellore-based practitioner, who called doctors the backbone of the government hospital system, said.

'Dangerous precedent'

Doctors criticising the revision of the pay scale said it ridiculed their hard work and did a gross injustice to the entire profession. They feel fixing the minimum wages based on the number of beds in a hospital is absurd since there is very little margin in the pay for 50- and 1,000-bed hospitals. The fraternity is afraid that such a move could discourage people from pursuing the noble profession.

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“Even the private hospitals hiring these doctors know that the recent revision of minimum pay is very unfair. A peon or worker working in a government hospital is paid equal to that. A staff nurse is paid much more than that. What is the logic in setting the wage at Rs 16,057 per month for a 50-bed hospital and Rs 16,876 per month for a 1,000-bed hospital? How is it justified to pay just Rs 800 more for treating 950 more patients?” asked Dr V Vignesh Rajendran, president of Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors Association.

He said it sets a dangerous precedent and makes a mockery of the medical profession.

“It is one of the reasons why doctors from Tamil Nadu are slowly moving away and settling in other states,” he said.

Wage structure inadequate, say doctors

Doctors say that while there is no proper implementation of the maximum number of working hours in a week for them, and many of them toil for 24-36 hours at the workplace, the wage structure is not just unfair but also grossly inadequate.

Dr R Shanthi, secretary of Doctor's Association for Social Equality, was one of the members in the employee committee representing the All India Trade Union Congress that suggested a basic pay for doctors to the labour department.

She had asked the doctors and dentists to present their demands before suggesting the basic pay, but after no one placed any specific requirement, she suggested a pay of Rs 56,000.

The announcements of minimum pay made by the labour department do not seem to have considered the stakeholders’ suggestions, even after meetings were held with the trade union committees.