Mumbai: Honorary docs' pay to increase tenfold, but still won't be enough

Clockwise from left: Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan says the stipend will be increased to Rs 15,000-25,000. Dr Pravin Shingare, director, DMER, and TP Lahane, dean, GMC, have also assured that the hike in honorarium is in the works; mid-day's report

Within hours of mid-day putting the spotlight on the pending dismal stipend of honorary teaching faculty at several state-run hospitals across Maharashtra, Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan yesterday assured that the honorarium will be increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 15,000-25,000 a month. He said he would look into why dues of the last two years hadn't been released.

Cama Hospital, which comes under Grant Medical College, offers a teaching programme

mid-day had yesterday reported that not only are regular contractual teachers (RCTs) of state-run hospitals offered a measly honorarium of Rs 1,500 a month, but they had also not received their stipend in the last two years.

Set the ball rolling
A full-time teaching faculty member is paid anywhere between Rs 70,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh per month. An honorary BMC corporator takes home a monthly pay of Rs 10,300.

Also read: Honorary doctors get imaginary stipend

Mahajan told mid-day that the government is mulling over increasing the RCTs' honorarium. "Today, R1500 is not sufficient to meet even monthly petrol expenses."

He said a proposal - which moots a minimum payment of R15,000 to assistant professors, and R25,000 for senior professors and associate professors - has been sent to the finance department and will soon be placed before the cabinet for approval.

Dr Pravin Shingare, director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, confirmed that the ball has begun rolling. "We are in communication with the departments concerned and are hopeful that the plea to increase the remuneration will be accepted by the finance department. The process has already begun and hopefully, it will be accepted soon."

Pending service orders
Dr TP Lahane, dean of Grant Medical College which runs four hospitals in the city - St George, JJ Cama and GT - said the government is "seriously considering" the hike in remuneration. "Of 100 RCTs, we have received the service continuation orders of only 89. The others' are pending. Without the service continuation order, they are not entitled to the Rs 1500 honorarium."

A senior RCT professor trashed the claim of pending orders.

"If 11 RCTs have not submitted their continuation orders, how are they then allowed to enter the premises of Grant Medical College, handle medico-legal cases and even teach students? If a faculty member does not have the requisite order, then it would imply that his/her handling of medico-legal cases will not be allowed in court and the case accused will gain upper hand then."

Asked if a possible fund crunch in the medical education department is to blame for the pending payments, Dr Shingare clarified that it has sufficient money and that payment issues lie with individual institutes.

"I will speak to Dr Lahane and find the reason. It is also the doctors' responsibility to follow up with the dean and ensure that their bank account details are clearly and correctly submitted, failing which they won't get their payments."

Only lip service so far
The demand for increasing the stipend hasn't come out of the blue. For years, the Association of Government Medical College Teachers has been asking the state government to increase the honorarium for RCTs, and has sent several letters to health ministers and finance ministers in the hope of seeing concrete action.

In one of the letters (a copy of which is with mid-day), it has demanded a remuneration of Rs 75,000 a month for professors, Rs 50,000 for associate professors, and R40,000 for assistant professors hired as RCTs.

Dr Vijay Tapase, president of the association, said it has so far received only lip service. "We have received a number of assurances, but nothing has come of them."

He revealed that the honorarium hasn't been changed since 1988. "Till then, honorary teaching faculty was paid Rs 250 a month as petrol allowance.

In those days, we could get a gallon of petrol with that money. After numerous discussions with health ministers and bureaucrats, the allowance was increased mid-1988 to Rs 1,500. We have been pleading to get our rightful dues."