Telangana’s ‘You Quote, We Pay’ scheme to address faculty shortage at government medical colleges

The Telangana Health department is set to roll out the‘You Quote, We Pay’ scheme to address long-standing faculty shortage at government medical colleges, particularly in high-demand and hard-to-fill specialties, as part of a wider push to stabilise medical education, and strengthen patient care systems across the State.

Speaking with The Hindu, Director of Medical Education (DME), A. Narendra Kumar, said the scheme would allow specialist doctors to quote their expected consolidated salary, with the Government selecting the lowest viable bid within an approved ceiling. Under the proposed model, the pay can go up to nearly three times the regular starting salary of a professor. 

“For instance, while the initial consolidated pay of a professor at a government medical college is around ₹2 lakh, the government is prepared to offer up to ₹6 lakh under the scheme, depending on demand and availability. If multiple candidates quote different amounts, the candidate willing to work for the lowest quoted pay will be selected,” the DME said.

He further added that the scheme is aimed specifically at specialities where demand far exceeds the supply, including radiology, cardiology, neurology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, anatomy, biochemistry and physiology. It is also intended to attract faculty to medical colleges in far-off districts such as Adilabad and Nizamabad, where institutions have struggled to retain specialists.

Dr. Kumar said the scheme would initially be confined to 10 medical colleges, selected based on attendance data from the Electronic Bio-metric Attendance System (EBAS). Colleges where low faculty attendance risks action from the National Medical Commission (NMC), including de-recognition, will be prioritised. “This is not a blanket policy for all departments but a targeted intervention where it is absolutely required,” he added.