The salaries of 507 doctors working in Karnataka on a contract basis were hiked by the Karnataka government on Thursday. This has been a long-standing demand of the doctors, along with the regularisations of their posts.
An order issued by the state Health and Family Welfare Department confirmed that the doctors who were receiving Rs 45,000 per month earlier will now receive Rs 60,000 per month.
"MBBS doctors working on contract basis in rural, taluk, district, municipality limits under the Karnataka Health Department will receive a hike in monthly cumulative wages from Rs 45,000 a month to Rs 60,000 a month until further orders are issued," the order stated.
The doctors working on a contract basis had written to the state government on Wednesday saying that they will not be providing services beyond July 8 if their jobs are not regularised. Even though around 30% of the posts for medical doctors were vacant in the state, the government is yet to regularise the contract doctors.
The doctors on contract had been demanding for regularisation as there was a pay disparity between the two posts for the same work. On June 17, the state government assured the workers that their jobs will be regularised but no action has been taken on that front.
The contract doctors had written to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa stating that many of them are involved in work related to the coronavirus outbreak in the state.
Karnataka has reported 16,514 COVID-19 patients so far of which 8,194 are currently undergoing treatment. The capital city of Bengaluru recorded 5,290 COVID-19 cases of which 4,649 cases are active.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has asked doctors and healthcare workers in the state to be ready to fight the coronavirus for the next six months.
In May, the Karnataka government had hiked the monthly stipends of over 8,000 resident doctors in the state.