Founding doctors of DHS face severe pension cuts, seek govt intervention

NEARLY 500 doctors who were among the founding members of the Delhi Health Service (DHS) are facing drastic cuts in their pension benefits, blaming the government's disregard of their earlier years of service for the financial blow.

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Though initially hired on a contract and ad hoc basis between 1996 and 2005 and later regularised in 2012, their service has only been counted from 2009 after new recruitment rules were notified. As a result, many senior doctors, including surgeons and top health officials, are now eligible for pensions of just up to 8,000 a month despite serving the capital's healthcare system for decades, they claimed.

One senior surgeon, posted at a government hospital, expressed his frustration over the pension cuts. "If the previous years of service were considered, the pension would come around 1.5 lakh monthly. But due to the government's negligence, the pension I am receiving is only about 8-10 thousand," he said.