Punjab Health Minister Brahm Mohindra recently back-pedalled on the plan to engage the private sector to run rural health centres and stated that it will be a pilot project in one or two centres with no increase in charges. Doctors; however, feel that the government started planning long back.

It was mentioned that doctors were unwilling to join government hospitals owing to the decision taken in 2015 to pay only basic salary to medical officers (MOs) for the first two years. The Congress government planned to recruit 350 doctors. However, due to lack of response, full pay scale was decided in March 2018, following which, 306 MOs were recruited.

Dr Vishavdeep Singh Rana, President of Young PCMS Doctors Association of Punjab, said that this was the only recruitment done by the present government in two years, while the gap is enormous. He mentioned that most of the doctors were not offered rural postings, despite the fact that many of them were keen.

Doctors feel that the public private partnership (PPP) model to run rural healthcare was in the offing, due to which rural postings were rarely offered in the previous recruitment drive.

In 2015, the then SAD-BJP government decided to recruit MOs at a basic salary of Rs 15,600 and they had to work on it for the first two years. The idea did not work well.

The then Health Minister, Surjit Jayani, later assured full pay scale and recruitment drive was done, but the doctors went on strike in November 2015. Nearly 40% of the MOs left the job over poor payment.

In February 2016, 300 vacancies for the post of MO were announced, but the probation period with basic salary was increased to three years. Dr Rana mentioned that nearly 200 MOs joined in March 2016 and another 150 in October 2016, but the trend of leaving jobs continued and the shortage of doctors is ongoing. Though the new government announced full pay scale to MOs, they could not pay pending arrears to the old MOs who continued jobs on basic salary.

Dr Avinash Jindal, President of Specialists Doctors Association of Ludhiana, said that even specialists are taking VRS as they feel overburdened. Doctors are going for the private sector.

A doctor told that over the years, fee in private medical colleges has increased a lot and doctors are, therefore, not keen on working in the government sector with poor pay when they can earn three times in the private sector.