A young anaesthetist with a year’s experience has quoted ₹3.5 lakh as the monthly emoluments expected to join service, in the Karnataka Health Department’s online bidding process to recruit medical specialists.
The bids have put the department in a fix. The salaries that doctors want are higher than what the budget allows and even the lowest bidder (₹1.5 lakh) has refused to join the General Hospital in Pavagada. By contrast, an anaesthetist with 26 years of experience, posted in Tumakuru District Hospital, gets ₹1.1 lakh, including incentives. The disparity has dismayed in-service government doctors.
The ongoing bidding is an urgent effort by the State government to attract doctors to rural areas. The programme attracted 5,262 doctors for 1,221 vacant posts till Monday. The remuneration that the doctors want ranges from ₹1.2 lakh to ₹6 lakh per month.
While there is a great need for anaesthetists, the highest amount quoted, ₹6 lakh, is by obstetricians and gynaecologists. Some of the lowest bids are from general surgery, orthopaedics and general medicine, ranging from ₹60,000 to ₹1.2 lakh. While general medicine, orthopaedics and ophthalmology specialists seek ₹5 lakh a month, general surgeons and paediatricians want ₹4.5 lakh or less.
The selection panel, headed by District Health and Family Welfare Officers, must negotiate to see that maximum emoluments do not cross ₹1.8 lakh, including a performance-based incentive of ₹70,000, but many specialists do not want to negotiate, officials pointed out.