Doctors demand revision of 7th Pay Commission recommendations

NEW DELHI: On the occasion of Doctors day,  Central and state doctors observed ‘Black Badge Day’ demanding revision of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

Besides, central government doctors under the banner of Joint Action Council of Service Doctor Organisation (JACSDO) and state government doctors under All India Federation of Government Doctors’ Association (AIFGDA), resident doctors under banner of FORDA (Federation of Resident Doctors Association) also joined the  protest.

“It has become farcical on part of central government to increase the retirement age of doctors while making the job and salary conditions highly unattractive. This will most certainly lead to massive exodus of experienced doctors towards private sector or even abroad.

“At a time when the Finance Minister has cited the IIM report to justify employees’ salary, why is the government turning a blind eye towards the same IIM report that states that doctors are highly underpaid in the government sector.

“Despite repeated meetings and assurances given by various ministers, including the Health Minister and the Finance Minister, the final reports of the 7th CPC have dealt a massive shock to the medical fraternity,” JACSDO member Shabarish Dharampal said.

“When the 7th CPC was constituted we doctors were very hopeful that our demands will be looked after, which is increasing Non-Practising Allowance (NPA) to 40 per cent from existent 25 per cent, instead it has been reduced to 20 per cent.

“The basic pay and NPA were merged together while calculating House Rental Allowance (HRA) earlier, but this has now been omitted and HRA will be calculated only with basic pay resulting in less than the desired salary,” said FORDA President Pankaj Solanki.

The doctor’s body also demanded uniform pay scales, night shift allowances which currently exist for nursing staff in government hospitals and the formulation of a uniform central residency scheme for the resident doctors of India.

JACSDO represents 11 organised and unorganised Central Health Services (CHS), Indian Railway Medical Services (IRMS), Indian Ordinance Health Services (IOHS), MCD, NDMC, Delhi administration and ESIC.