The salary of Dr.Ronald Ross IMS, the discoverer of Malaria parasite cycle that

won him Nobel Prize, was Rs.1000/month when he was posted to Calcutta in

1898 . At that time gold was sold at Rs.18/10 gms. By that reckoning, in today’s

money that salary of Rs 1000/- is equal to Rs.15,00,000/( Fifteen lakhs ) approx.

The senior IMS ( Indian Medical service) officers drew a salary of 2,500/- and the

DGMS was the highest paid govt officer at Rs3,500/- when the salary of ICS

secretary was a maximum of Rs.2,500/-.

Convert these figures into todays money, surprised to find them equal to…42 – 52

lakhs a month?! But then that is only that much what the top corporate honchos

earn now. In other words the salaries paid by govt those days had parity with

market potential of doctors, which no longer exists now.

It’s socialism where a race horse and a donkey are all deemed equal. Any

wonder Government hospitals have been deserted by competent doctors who

migrated to greener pastures. Whose loss is this? No one seems to bother about

this. The poor quality of many doctors graduating from the colleges these days

is a testimony of the effect of good teachers deserting govt colleges. Private

colleges give even worse scenario. Our govts and society have not realised this

and it will be too late to correct if this is allowed to go on uncorreceted. Good

teachers come at a price and values.

Now a days some of the super specialists in private sector do earn 10-30

lakhs/month , and a top few even more. The salary can rarely match the income

in practice.

On becoming the highest Income Tax payer as an individual, Dr.Girinath of Apollo

Hospitals, Chennai, some years ago, was felicitated by IT dept !!

Why I have mentioned these is to highlight the point from where the doctors

have started off and how they have ended now.

A doctor’s’ salary in Govt currently varies from 45-120 thousand approximately

depending on the rank. This is nearly 30 times less than what was paid earlier

not notwithstanding the claim of the country’s growth n GDP and progress!

If one considers the length of training to become a specialist-MBBS- 6 years,

MD/ MS- 3 years, DM/MCh another 3 years- a total of 12 years of University

education-, the potential income and youthful years lost in the long training, the

fire of exams, the liability to work at odd hours and on holidays, the

unpredictable calls of duty and the pressures of constantly dealing the sick and

suffering, the present day compensation of doctors is so short of meeting the

ends, its exploitation only.

Unfortunately the public, by taking examples of few successful doctors consider

that all doctors have lots of money. That’s the problem.

In the earlier times, for a lifetime career, the best brains chose to join medicine. If

we are self reliant in medicine today, this owes much to this fact. But no longer

medicine is the first choice of the best brains today! Quality of inputs matter a

lot in the long run. If we neglect this aspect we will be saddled with incompetent

and reckless about which we can only keep complaining without end.

Many doctors’ kids these days are not joining medicine. After seeing the life of

their parents, the kids have become wiser. They openly say, medicine is a career

of too much effort and too less compensation to devote a lifetime.

Once upon a time grateful patients and the quality of simple human relations

wherein the respect a doctor commanded in the society provided a kind of

satisfaction in life to compensate for lack of matching monetary compensation.

But that has all changed for worse once commercialism has set in.

It leaves me surprised to know that a large proportion of UK citizenry still see the

doctors in NHS, the govt funded health care system in the UK positively, and only

a small few have negative opinion.

Whereas in India it is the other way.

Govt services are considered bad by default despite yeomen services of some

devoted doctors. Hardly I have ever come across any poor patient praising the

Govt general Hospital, Chennai,

Which must have given new lease of life to lakhs

of people, where kidney transplants, complex liver surgeries and medical

treatments are provided free of cost.

All this makes a conscientious doctor to look for greener pastures than suffer in

a thankless govt duty where the compensation is pittance..

“If you pay peanuts, you only get monkeys”- Lee Kuan Yew, Ex.PM, Singapore.

…(forwarded as received)