mid-day impact: Booster dose for Panvel, PMC increases monthly salary of docs

A day after midday in its frontpage report highlighted a shortage of trained and experienced doctors in the PMC amid a surge in cases the civic body decided to increase the starting salary to Rs 50000 from Rs 30000 Medical professionals were reluctant to join the Panvel Municipal Corporation PMC due to the extremely low pay package They had said that other corporations offer almost double the salary at Rs 60000The PMC has also outsourced their dedicated COVID Centre in Kalamboli which is yet to be opened to a private agency to man and run it starting todayIn a report titled lsquoDouble blow for Panvelrsquo dated April 5 midday had mentioned about the poor preparations of the PMC amid the second wave and the shortage of trained doctors despite advertisementsThe PMC was initially offering a monthly salary of Rs 30000 to BHMSBAMS doctors and Rs 60000Rs 75000 to postgraduate experienced medical professionals PMC Commissioner Sudhakar Deshmukh has now increased the salary of BHMSBAMS doctors to be hired to treat COVID19 patients to Rs 50000Medics want better payA doctor who had worked with the PMC during the first wave said ldquoWith the hike in salary few doctors might come to work for the PMC provided it treats them professionally and assures them of a longterm opportunity Because most nurses and BHMSBAMS doctors from Kolhapur Beed and Osmanabad go to the NMMC TMC BMC etc in search of a good pay package and a longterm job securityrdquoSeveral doctors who the PMC hired during the first wave and then let go in November went to work with other corporations that were offering a much better pay and job securityMeanwhile Raigad district Guardian Minister Aditi Tatkare has assured to hold a meeting with PMC chief and Raigad collector Nidhi Choudhary to bring in more help by getting private hospitals too to handle the surge in cases Tatkare told midday that the fire compliance clearance for the Kalamboli COVID19 centre has now been obtainedDr Anand Gosavi medical officer health PMC said ldquoOur Kalamboli dedicated COVID centre has been outsourced to Magicdil 1 Rupee Clinic and will be operational from April 7 A specialised team of doctors have already been recruited through the National Urban Health Mission We have got six specialised doctors and three MBBS doctors Also 10 BHMS doctors are being hired to handle COVID19 casesrdquoNo CTMRI setup at Kalamboli centreAsked about CTMRI facilities at the Kalamboli centre Dr Gosavi said ldquoThe centre doesnrsquot have those but Magicdil has a team of medical experts and would tie up with CTMRI centres in the nearby areasrdquoThe doctor who had worked with the PMC earlier said the existing arrangement was still not enough ldquoWith every passing day the number of cases will increase and nearly two per cent of them would require ICU admission and some ventilator The current infrastructure of the 60bed centre at Uran and a 72bed centre at Kalamboli with 12 ICU and 60 oxygen beds is too small for the entire PMCrdquoA doctor from Kharghar handling COVID19 cases said ldquoWe need a jumbo centre with an ICU facility that can cater to a large number of patients at the earliest Open grounds Central Park Kharghar or PMC or CIDCO buildings could be used for thatrdquo Meanwhile Tatkare said she will speak to ldquodoctors to understand the ground situation and get clarity on their grievances and try to resolve them at my levelrdquoRs 50000Monthly salary PMC is now offering post hike of Rs 20000