Covid relief-PSMDTA demanded exemption of income tax for govt doctors
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Ukraine Parliament has voted to triple the salaries of the medical staff working on COVID-19. Haryana govt has decided to double the salary of all medical staff involved in the fight against Corona. But on the other side, Punjab State Medical & Dental Teachers Association (Patiala and Amritsar) has appealed its members working as faculty in medical and dental colleges under state government, to contribute at least their one day salary to Punjab Chief Minister Covid-19 Relief Fund to supplement the state government efforts fighting corona pandemic.
However, the association has demanded from the Union Finance Minister Nirmla Sitharaman to totally exempt the Government Doctors from payment of income tax for the current financial year throughout in the country to boost their morale in fighting the corona pandemic.
In a joint press statement, President Dr Mridu Gupta and State General Secretary Dr DS Bhullar said that presently the government doctors are heavily burdened with income tax with loss of almost their three months salary in the form of income tax.
The Association has strongly appealed to the Chief Minister Punjab Capt Amrinder Singh to pursue with the matter personally as a matter of priority for the state as well as central governments.
It will not cost immediate financial burden on the central government and hence feasible to announce right now.
At the state level, the government should also announce some incentives to the government doctors involved in Corona related duties directly or indirectly and for those who may get involved in the near future keeping in view the looming pandemic and the best option is to give full insurance coverage to the government doctors and other para-medical staff.
The State Govt should also ensure full protection to the doctors on duty keeping in view the reported incidents of assault on doctors
April,12,2020
