Belagavi: To attract medical officers to serve in rural areas, the government will soon announce a hefty salary package for doctors to be appointed afresh in the Health Department on contract basis.
Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa wants the government to pay Rs 1 lakh per month salary to doctors with PG degrees and Rs 70,000 to doctors with MBBS degrees to be appointed on a contract basis to attract them to rural government hospitals.
At a meeting in Belagavi convened by Mr Thimmappa on Thursday, he expressed concern over doctors refusing to work in rural government hospitals and said, it would deprive rural folks of good healthcare facilities. He said soon he would hold talks with Health Minister Ramesh Kumar to ensure a drastic hike in the salaries of doctors to attract them to rural hospitals.
According to him, the doctors to be appointed on contract basis, should get more salary than what the government doctors appointed as per the government's roster are drawing now. He said, it was time for the Health Department to revise salaries of doctors to bolster rural hospitals.
