Nagpur: Not finding enough MBBS medicos to serve at its rural areas, the state of Maharashtra is looking forward to appointing Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degree holders at health officers Group-A post in primary health centres (PHCs) located in the peripheral areas. This will be done on a contractual basis with an increase in their salary that what the Ayurveda practitioners traditionally get.
So far doctors who hold MBBS degree were given the rank of health officer group-A. Since MBBS doctors had shown reluctance to work in rural PHCs, the government saw a huge reduction in medical professionals.
Given the shortage of medical professionals in the health centres located in the villages, the government is prepared to fill 1,500 vacancies of Health Officer Group-A through the BAMS degree holders.
The first BAMS professionals were appointed as the Health Officer Group-B post, for which they were paid 16,000 to 20,000 rupees, but now, they were appointed to the post with a fixed salary of 45,000 rupees per month. Will go.
TOI has reported that the State Health Department issued a circular in this regard, stating that “many posts of medical officer group A are vacant in the state. Earlier, on these terms, only the policy decision was made to appoint only MBBS degree holders on the basis of a lasting or 11-month contract. However, even after continuous efforts, it is difficult to find MBBS degree holders for these positions. Therefore, it has been decided to appoint BAMS degree holders on a contract basis. “
In the respective districts, a committee headed by district collectors will make the recruitment process to appoint officers.
President of Maharashtra Medical Officers Federation, Dr Arun Koli saw this as a decision, which would benefit thousands of BAMS doctors across the state.
Co-convener of the Jan Arogya Abhiyan (a network of NGOs working in the health care sector) Abhijit More emphasized the improvement in working conditions and other facilities.
He said, “They also have to specify what types of medicines or injections are allowed to BAMS doctors. Training will be helpful before taking charge of PHC
