Delay in salaries and mismanagement is causing disillusionment among the faculty members of the nascent Government Doon Medical College (GDMC). The newly appointment doctors are so much upset with the state of affairs that many of them are contemplating to leave their job. On Tuesday, Assistant Professor (medicine) Dr Sanjay Kumar Varun tendered his resignation to the college Principal. Dr Varun is second faculty member in department of medicine to resign. Earlier the Head of Department (HOD), Dr Vikram Singh had left his job.  Dr Varun told The Pioneer that he was not getting job satisfaction while working here.

 The issue of late receipt of salaries is one of a major cause of resentment among the doctors. The faculty members who are on contract in the medical college have not received their salaries for almost three months now. “The salary of May was disbursed after a long wait on August 16. Still the salary of June and July is pending and August is about to end. Almost all the contractual staff members have started looking for other options. When joining this medical college we thought that being new and situated in state capital the college would be better managed but how things have unfolded have disappointed most of us,’’ said one of a contractual faculty members. The other problem these contractual Professors, Associate and Assistant Professors are facing is the virtual contempt they are treated with by their colleagues drawn from the Provincial Medical Services.  “The PMS Doctors treat the orders of the college authorities with disdain.  The undue political interference in our work in the hospital is also a big hindrance here,’’ disclosed another doctor.

When contacted, the Director Medical Education Dr Ashutosh Sayana said that is a normal practice for the faculty members to resign as they search regularly for greener pastures. He claimed that the pending salary of the employees of the GDMC College would be disbursed by Wednesday.The reported resentment among the faculty members on the issue of salary is a bad news for the nascent college planning to start classes for the first batch of MBSS students soon. The Principal of GDMC, Dr Pradeep Bharati Gupta said that it is unfortunate that the salary problem is still persisting. He said that necessary budget is provided by the government but the salary bill is pending for more than three days in the office of Director, Medical education. The college at present has 60 Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors.

The GDMC has recruited Professors on a fixed monthly salary of Rs 1.23 lakh, Associate Professor on Rs 1.10 lakh and Assistant Professor on Rs 95000. Similarly the SR is employed on a salary of Rs 65000 while the pay of JR is Rs 47000.  The salary obligation of the DMC per month is Rs 1.71 Crores.