Tamil Nadu govt wage bill got heftier

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Policy/Tamil-Nadu-govt-wage-bill-got-heftier/articleshow/4600798.cms

It is rejoicing time for state government employees’ of Tamil Nadu, with their compensation scales brought on par with the central government staff.

Sample some statistics: the deputy collector is the biggest beneficiary with his total emoluments going up to Rs 30,730 post revision compared to Rs 23,430 that the official drew as on January 1, 2006. With a wage hike of Rs 1,310, noon-meal organisers would now get a total wage of Rs 4,780.

Extending the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations to its own employees, the TN government revised the salaries of its staff that would benefit 12 lakh government employees, including local body officials and noon-meal scheme workers, besides six lakh pensioners, TN finance secretary K Gnanadesikan told reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday.

Despite declining tax revenues due to the economic slowdown and the increasing financial burden, the state has gone ahead with its implementation. Against annual revenue estimates of Rs 59,000 crore, TN’s wage bill component of revenue expenditure constitutes Rs 14,000 crore on salaries and Rs 7,000 crore on pensions.

The pay revision would result in an additional recurring expenditure of Rs 5155.79 crore annually. The house rent and the city compensatory allowances, granted for the first time to all employees on special time scales of pay including noon-meal workers, had been doubled, Mr Gnanadesikan said.

The revised pay scales would be implemented with effect from January 1, 2006 notionally, while the monetary benefit would be applicable from January 1, 2007. On account of this measure and the "carry forward" effect, retirees would also stand to gain a pension bonanza.

The state government would also incur a further expenditure of Rs 11,093 crore on account of payment arrears, but the payout would be in three equal annual instalments. "We have already factored this in our budget calculations," he said in response to a question.

Arrears on pay revision after adjustment of interim arrears would be paid in cash in three equal instalments in the years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Mr Gnanadesikan said the first instalment would be released immediately post the issuance of government orders. The Central pay scales are being continuously implemented in TN.

Asked about any specific plan to handle the revenue gap, he said stamp duty and registration charges collection had declined by 30% in view of dwindling property transactions. Inflation and stagnation in VAT collections had also impacted revenues. However, by the first quarter of 2010, recovery is expected and the state has been safeguarded adequately.

Mr Gnanadesikan also said the Central finance commission team members are scheduled to visit the state on June 4 or 5. TN would seek to impress upon them to enhance its share in the devolution of funds.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Existing pay scales to be revised on Central ‘pay scale to pay scale’ basis
• Allowances have been doubled
• Annual increment will be @3% of pay plus grade pay as in GoI
• DA will be sanctioned at same rates and on same date in the revised pay structure as sanctioned by GoI
• New pay scale of Rs 7000-225-11500 has been created for post of ministerial superintendent so as to place this post one level above that of the assistant section officer in secretariat and a corresponding revised pay scale of Rs 9300-34800 with a grade pay of Rs 4800 with effect from 12.12.07 will be granted
• Existing slab rates of HRA and CCA will be doubled
• Eligibility for travelling allowance has been modified suitably keeping in view existing levels
• Gratuity ceiling enhanced from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh
• Family pensioners who exercise option to contribute Rs 50 per month from their family pension would be included in TN Pensioners’ Health Fund Scheme
• Consolidated pay/fixed pay/honorarium has been enhanced ensuring uniform increase of 25% of the existing emoluments

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Tamil Nadu government announces pay hikes

http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/15966.htm

The Tamil Nadu government Sunday announced huge increases in the salaries of its employees ranging between Rs.1,774 and Rs.7,300 per month.

The pay hike is expected to shoot up the government’s annual expenditure by Rs.5,155.79 crore, while the initial cost would be around Rs.11,093 crore, an official statement said.

On the basis of the recommendations of a special committee and the Sixth Pay Commission, the government has decided to hike salaries of its employees despite additional initial financial burden and increased annual expenditures, it said.

“The total payment will be paid in instalments between the current financial year and 2011,” the statement added.

According to the statement, the salary increments will range between Rs.1,774 and Rs.7,300 per month from office assistant to deputy collector.

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Medical officers protest sixth pay panel report

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/Medical-officers-protest-sixth-pay-panel-report/articleshow/4599425.cms

NAGPUR: The sixth pay commission may have benefited most government employees, but medical officers (MOs) in the state claim they are one of the

biggest losers. They say that the new package of salaries has brought down their status and devalued their position among medical professionals as well as other administrative staff.

Irked by the recent GR, which brings the MOs (grade A) in the 9300-35,000 scale, public health sector doctors have joined hands under the banner of Federation of Health Officers (doctors) (FOHA), and submitted a memorandum to district collectors across the state demanding equal status with Central government medical officers, who have been retained in the upper salary slabs. “Today we submitted a memorandum, but on June 4 we will wear black badges. On June 20, officials will stop reporting to work under the National Rural Health Mission, and from June 30 they will stop work for one hour,” said Dr Sanjay Manekar, regional FOHA secretary.

He said that the sixth pay commission had brought the MOs at par with salaries of class III staff nurses and senior clerks. “The state government has not approved the Dynamic Career Assurance Progress Scheme (DCAPS) of the Central government and this has put us in the dock,” Dr Mankar said. Dental medical officers too claim to have been affected by the new GR.

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Doubts about Maternity Leave

Dear ____,

Regarding maternity leave for my wife..
My wife who is a ___ joined at _______ GH on June 25th 2007 and she availed maternity leave from June 2nd 2008...
She joined under bond that she signed while joining his course to work in governement setup..
Now we are planning to apply for maternity leave pay arrears
Is she eligible for all 3 months as she took leave before one year was over
Do u have any suggestions..

Thanks
Dr.________

Dear Dr,

Since the Candidate has joined in 2007 under Rule 10 A 1, she has to clear the TNPSC. Did she appear in General TNPSC 2009. If so, if she is selected, her services will be regularised. Or else she has to appear in a special TNPSC which will be conducted subsequently (check Doubts about 10 A 1 Counselling and General TNPSC Clarified, More doubts about 10 A 1, When will my services be regularised, and other posts in TNPSC Forum, http://www.targetpg.net/search/label/TNPSC, http://www.tngda.in for more details)

Only after getting selected by a TNPSC, (General or Special) the services will be regularised.

After that probation has to be declared. Only after that you can claim the leave. Please wait for some time

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DME AP Counselling - Request to District Office Bearers

District Office Bearers are requested to ensure that the latest vacancy report of your college is send by fax to DDME (A&R) by 25.05.2009. Letter to Deans from DME in this regard can be got from our office by Fax. State Secretary

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Tiruvarur Government Medical College to start functioning from this academic year

http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/23/stories/2009052358120100.htm

Special Correspondent

MAKING A POINT: Dairy Development Minister U. Mathivanan discussing with officials about progress in construction of buildings for Government Medical College in Tiruvarur on Thursday.

TIRUVARUR: The Government Medical College at Tiruvarur will start functioning from this academic year.

Officials of the Indian Medical Council will visit Tiruvarur in June and make an assessment of the works completed. After the visit, Health Minister and Health Secretary will take steps to admit students to the college, Dairy Development Minister U. Mathivanan said here on Thursday after inspecting the works on the construction of the buildings for the college. Students will be admitted from this academic year itself, he said.

The college is coming up at a total cost of Rs. 100 crore. Thirty nine acres of land has been allotted in the Collectorate master complex for the purpose. A sum of Rs. 42.77 crore has been allotted in the first phase for construction of buildings. A 300-bed hospital building is coming up at a cost of Rs. 26.18 crore, another 200-bed hospital at a cost of Rs. 6.88 crore, an outpatient ward at a cost of Rs. 6.5 crore, a central laboratory and a blood bank building at a cost of Rs. 2.30 crore. “Sixty per cent of the works of these buildings have been completed,” the Minister said.

In the second phase, buildings for various departments, hostel facilities for girls and boys and examination hall will be constructed. A sum of Rs. 50.93 crore has been allotted for the purpose. Tenders have been called for these works.

They will be finalised in a fortnight and works taken up, the Minister said. Initially students will be staying in temporary hostels till the works on hostels is completed. The Minister advised engineers to expedite the work.

John Louis, District Revenue Officer, accompanied the Minister during his visit.

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Protesting medicos in Hyderabad opt for a flash strike

From
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/protesting-medicos-in-hyderabad-opt-for-a-flash-strike_1007613.html

Hyderabad, Dec 3 (ANI): The protests by medicos in Hyderabad against the alleged misbehaviour by a legislator continued on Monday with junior doctors of Niloufer Hospital going on a flash strike.
An MLA belonging to the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) Afsar Khan allegedly attacked the medicos second time after the Sunday incident when the legislator had attacked the doctors on duty.
Khan and his accomplices have alleged that the doctors delayed in giving treatment to a child belonging to a MIM activist that led to the child’s death.
The child’s father, Junaid and his relatives reportedly created a ruckus in the hospital leading to their arrests.
Monday’s strike has hit the services at the hospital. However, official sources have refuted reports that six children have died because of the strike.
Meanwhile, to overcome the situation, the State Health Minister Aruna Kumari said that the help of doctors from other hospitals have been sought to maintain services at the Niloufer Hospital.
“I held talks with the junior doctors and I ordered an enquiry by the joint collector into the incident since it involves Speaker’s consent to arrest the MLA,” said Kumari.
The superintendent of Niloufer hospital Narasimha Rao described the incident as a case of misunderstanding between the doctors and the relatives of the baby patient.
“We used to get 100 to 120 admissions everyday. That day also we got 70 cases and in one case the patient was brought dead, and its unfortunate that the relatives psychological phobia led to the incident,” said Rao.
The striking doctors have alleged that the incidents of misbehaviour are on increase and there is no security provided by the government. (ANI)

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Number of medical aspirants plunges 65% in 5 years

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Number-of-medical-aspirants-plunges-65-in-5-years/articleshow/4501474.cms

MUMBAI: Here’s a bitter reality pill—the number of aspiring doctors in the state has progressively declined over the past four years. About 80,000 students took the health sciences entrance exam in 2004, but only 28,551 will do so this year. On the other hand, the number of engineering aspirants seems to have spurted.

There was a time when the state did not even conduct an entrance test for aspiring engineers—they were merely admitted on the basis of their Class XII physics, chemistry and math scores. In 2004, when the state introduced an entrance exam for engineering, 52,400 students sat for it. This time around, over 95,000 (see box) will be vying for 71,701 seats across Maharashtra.

While most engineers walk into an MBA programme, the passport to a successful career and high salary, medical students spend close to ten years buried in books. Apart from the punishing length of the course, vice-chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Dr Mrudula Phadke, points to another reason that has discouraged students from studying medicine. “The number of postgraduate seats has also fallen, reducing the guarantee of a seat at that stage,’’ she said.

If seats in medicine have remained constant over the years, the engineering course has become the new motor for success. From 2002 to 2004, several seats in engineering courses went abegging, but with the IT revolution, 40 new colleges in the state have sprung up every year. Now, Maharashtra has the third highest number of engineering colleges after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

An official of the state Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) echoed the sentiment of lakhs of students when he said that an engineer’s career begins with a hefty pay packet while a doctor’s is much slower to take off. “A doctor who graduates takes years to secure a place for himself in the fraternity before he can establish himself. Besides, job prospects for doctors are falling,’’ the official said.

Dr Vivek Korde, president of the Forum Against Commercialisation of Education, said when the Unnikrishnan formula was in place, meritorious students would get into the medical stream because 50% of the seats were under a government quota. Until 2003, even private medical colleges across Maharashtra had to hand over half their seats to the government and the state in turn admitted students on merit for an annual fee of Rs 18,000. “Now, private colleges don’t give seats to the government and there are merely 2,000 seats in the government and corporation medical colleges. Private colleges are unaffordable for middle-class students,’’ Korde added.

After the T M A Pai ruling and the Islamic judgment struck down the government quota in private institutes from 2004-05, there were only 44,537 medical aspirants in Maharashtra in the following year, and since then their numbers have further dwindled.

In all, 2.49 lakh students will be taking the MHT-CET on May 12, while close to 1.25 lakh undecided candidates will give both biology and maths a shot.

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TB hits PGI emergency doctors

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chandigarh/TB-hits-PGI-emergency-doctors/articleshow/4357069.cms

CHANDIGARH: A mere sneeze in over-crowded emergency wards of hospitals could leave you, or your doctor, infected. In a frightening revelation, 12 of the 60 doctors posted in the emergency of region’s premier institute -- PGIMER -- during the past two years have been infected with tuberculosis. And if medicos run such high risk of infections, it’s not hard to imagine what patients -- who’re already immunosuppressed -- are exposed to in buzzing corridors of PGI.

With the issue raising concern among health workers, a draft prepared to redesign hospitals has been submitted to the Centre. ‘‘In the recent past, we’ve seen four to five doctors getting infected with TB every year,’’ said head of pulmonary department SK Jindal. He added healthcare staff was two to three times more vulnerable to the disease than the general population, which runs a 0.5% risk of getting it.

‘‘Twelve residents -- primarily from transplant surgery, neurosurgery, gastroenterology surgery and medicine departments -- have been infected with TB of lungs and extra pulmonary (bone and spine). But the administration has been slow to act,’’ said Prabhu, the president of resident doctors’ body.

‘‘We have sent a proposal to Union government under Revised National TB Control Programme to redesign hospitals in a way that there is proper ventilation and overcrowding is avoided,’ Jindal said.

A far cry from the tentative arrangements are untidy beds in PGI emergency that are cramped together, with not even two-foot distance between two cots. Not only is there no patient-isolation room for those infected with air-borne ailments, but the huge ward is kept ‘hygienic’ by merely six exhaust fans, that whirl tirelessly to pump out bad air. Ironically, these six exhausts are the only ‘clean measure’ adopted by PGI since its inception. Despite the association of resident doctors apprising the administration about lack of essential elements, nothing has been done to provide open spaces or improve ventilation.

Tejinder Singh, who is the chief engineer at Fortis, said, ‘‘Rooms are supposed to be built in such a way that when a patient breathes out, the air is released directly out of the exhaust outlet. All patients suffering from air-borne disease are shifted to isolation ward, where adequate precautions are taken. We have a microwave filter in ACs that is regularly cleaned, etc.’’

Blaming patient inflow for lack of space, PGI’s official spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar said, ‘‘Though emergency can accommodate 30 beds, we normally have 120-150 patients admitted at a time.’’

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Target Your PG Seat: Tamil Nadu DM / MCh. HIGHER SPECIALITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

Target Your PG Seat: Tamil Nadu DM / MCh. HIGHER SPECIALITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

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Target Your PG Seat: Tamil Nadu DM / MCh. HIGHER SPECIALITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

Target Your PG Seat: Tamil Nadu DM / MCh. HIGHER SPECIALITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

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