Vets: Restore 25% NPA, make it part of salary

Mohali, July 30

Members of the Senior Vets Association on Friday condemned the Punjab Government for dilly dallying on the issue of NPA to government medical, veterinary, dental, ayurvedic and homeopathic doctors.

The doctors have urged the Joint Government Doctors Coordination Committee to press the government to restore 25 per cent NPA and to make it a part of salary for the calculation of all other allowances in the 6th Pay Commission.

Former Joint Director, Animal Husbandry, and Punjab State Veterinary Council member Dr Gurinder Singh Walia said the pandemic had laid bare the poor medical services and health infrastructure in the country. He said incentives should be given to doctors, specialists and super specialists to attract the best talent to the government sector, instead of making savings by pay cut. He said if there were cuts in salary and allowances, doctors were bound to leave government jobs and move to private sector or abroad.

Meanwhile, Dr Nitin Kumar, former Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Gau Sewa Commission, said government doctors and veterinarians felt cheated as during the ongoing pandemic, they worked with great dedication and devotion even at the cost of their health and by putting their families at risk just to alleviate the sufferings of the public.

Dr Sanjeev Khosla, former Director, Animal Husbandry, Punjab, quipped that in the prevailing scenario, under the ‘one health programme’ , veterinary and medical doctors had a crucial role to play and were supposed to form joint strategies and programmes to contain and combat the spread of emerging new diseases globally. — TNS