Belagavi: In a bid to tide over acute shortage of specialist doctors in government hospitals, the Health department is taking steps to hire doctors from the private sector on contract or to work on “on call” basis.

Replying to Duryodhan Aihole (BJP) in the Legislative Assembly, Health Minister K R Ramesh Kumar said specialists are not keen on working in government hospitals despite being offered salaries to the tune of Rs one lakh per month in addition to house rent allowance of Rs 20,000.

Remuneration for doctors who agree to serve ‘on call’ will be on a case-to-case basis, he said.

The minister said several specialist doctors from government hospitals are holding administrative posts such as joint directors, deputy directors and programme directors under various health schemes.

The Health department will divest them of their administrative responsibilities and depute them to government hospitals.

Specialist doctors working in the casualty wings are being replaced with those with MBBS qualification in a bid to use them for specialised services.

The minister said that the Health department will fill all the vacant para-medical and staff nurse posts in government hospitals within a month. He said there is no proposal before the state government for opening new primary health centres.

Replying to a query by B N Vijay Kumar (BJP), the minister said all the hospitals in Bengaluru, including those run by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike will be equipped with infrastructure for blood component separation units to help patients suffering from dengue.