Plum packages to attract docs to remote RIMS

Hyderabad: Facing threat of losing recognition, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Adilabad will be offering plum pay packages to teaching staff that will be recruited in next three weeks.

The Telangana government has agreed to increase salaries by almost 100 per cent hoping to attract senior teaching faculty to take up posts of professors, associate and assistant professors. Newly-appointed professors, associate and assistant professors will be laughing all the way to the bank as they would be given salaries more than what their colleagues in Osmania or Gandhi medical colleges are drawing now.

As per the fresh decision, professor would be given a consolidated pay package of Rs 1.9 lakh per month while for associate professor it would be Rs 1.5 lakh and assistant professor Rs 1.25 lakh.

RIMS-Adilabad, which is a semi-autonomous institution, will be taking steps in co-ordination with district Collector, to issue a notification and call for applications for the 40-odd vacant posts. MCI team that visited college on June 6 for renewing recognition, given for every 5 years, highlighted staff deficiency in its report and kept the renewal decision pending necessitating the government to take a key decision on increasing pay.

According to senior doctors working in Hyderabad, staff vacancies in Adilabad college has been a problem because teaching faculty were reluctant to move to far-off Adilabad district. Lack of opportunities for children’s education and fewer facilities in the backward Telangana district were main reasons why doctors shied away from responding to job notifications taken up by RIMS in the past.

Expressing another point of view, Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association members from RIMS said that earlier notifications by RIMS were mostly contract based and hence lukewarm response from doctors’ fraternity from taking up teaching posts.“RIMS being a semi-autonomous institution, posts are being filled on contract basis unlike in government medical colleges where recruitment is permanent.

In such a scenario, why would senior teaching faculty sacrifice everything and show interest to come to Adilabad for a job that is temporary and at the mercy of college administration. Also, the pay package was not encouraging," said a junior doctor.

Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr K Ramesh Reddy exuded confidence of overcoming faculty deficiency problem now that government decided to enhance salaries. The revised packages are almost on par with salaries drawn by teaching faculty in NIMS-Panjagutta, he said.

"RIMS will be issuing a nationwide notification paving way for doctors from other states also to apply apart from Telangana. The teaching and patient care will be on required standards once appointments are made," he said, adding that other small deficiencies pertaining to modification of wards etc. would be done at the earliest.

Dr K Ashok, Director, RIMS, said that job notification was likely to be issued in newspapers on August 16 after consultation with district Collector.
In all 14 professor posts, 10 associate professor posts, 15 assistant professor posts and five tutors’ posts would be filled, most likely, by end of August. MCI re-inspection is expected in September after which recognition renewal decision would be announced, the director added.

Meanwhile, sources stated that reason for all-India notification was to give opportunity for doctors from other states to apply in view of reluctance shown by teaching fraternity from Telangana.

A few doctors from bordering Maharashtra already worked here in the college in the past and there are good chances of receiving applications from the neighboring state this time, said a junior doctor.