ASSAM TIMES POST
Guwahati : Assam Government on Wednesday announced to give an additional 25 per cent of basic salary as incentive to the faculty members of the newly set up Diphu Medical College and Hospital. Announcing the schemes, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a press conference that the incentives are doled out to retain the faculty members in a “tough terrain”like Diphu, the headquarter of the Karbi Anglong district.
“All the faculty of the Diphu Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) will get an additional 25 per cent of their basic salary as incentives,” he added. If any retired professor wants to join the institute,then he will be able to servetill 70 years of age, Sarma informed about the new structure.”Besides, if a faculty member works in DMCH for three years during any period of his entire career, his retirement age will be 67 years instead of the existing age limit of 65 years,” he added. These benefits will be applicable only to the faculty members, who will mostly be from outside Karbi Anglong.
“The other non-teaching posts will be filled up mostly from the local youths of the district,” Sarma said. When asked about the reasons behind this special treatment only for the DMCH, the Minister informed that Diphu is a “tough terrain” and establishing the medical college in the district was the “toughest job” for him as the HealthMinister of the state. “We have appointed 58 faculty members so far and 57 have already joined.
We want them to stay there. That is why we areoffering something extra. However, we have seen that mostly the medical teachers leave the job after some time for betteropportunities,” he added. Sarma explained that even the doctors have aspirations intheir lives and unfortunately, Diphu does not have goodamenities like good restaurants, big shopping malls and otherluxury avenues for relaxation.Besides DMCH, three more medical colleges are under construction at Dhubri, Lakhimpur and Nagaon, which will start functioning from 2020-21.
Currently, Assam has six medical colleges at Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat, Tezpur and Barpeta.
