Demanding regularisation of their services, as many as 507 MBBS doctors working on contract for years under the Health and Family Welfare Department, have threatened to submit resignations en masse on Wednesday.
The contract doctors, who will arrive in Bengaluru from their districts on Wednesday morning, will submit their resignations to Health Minister B. Sriramulu and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
“Although the services of over 2,000 doctors have been regularised from 2002 to 2016, 507 of us have been left out due to technical reasons. While we have been working on a par with permanent doctors, our salaries are far lesser. Moreover, now the government has issued a notification calling for appointment of doctors. While there are over 2,000 vacancies in the department, why should our services not be regularised,” asked Nitin Kumar, a doctor working in a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Hassan.
Vinay Manjunath, a doctor from a PHC in Chickballapur and member of the Karnataka Government Medical Officers Association, said doctors want job security and equal pay for equal work. While permanent doctors in the department earn ₹85,000 with TA, DA. we get ₹45,000 a month, he said.
‘No assurance’
All the doctors are appointed in PHCs and have been deputed in districts hospitals during the pandemic. “We have submitted several petitions to Mr. Sriramulu, Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Mr. Yediyurappa, and our jurisdictional MLAs, but have got no assurance,” the doctor said.
