Gurgaon: Salary delays, unpaid incentives and arrears pending since last year — doctors and staffers working at several urban primary health centres (UPHCs) in the city under National Health Mission (NHM) are facing a plethora of issues.“Salary delays have become routine. We never know when the money will come,” NHM staffer Sailash Yadav, posted at Sector 10 hospital, told TOI, adding, “Most of us have EMIs, rent, school fees and other commitments that cannot wait for two or three months.”Doctors and staff working at the UPHCs say the delays have become a “recurring ordeal”, with official records reviewed by TOI showing the issue has persisted for more than a year despite repeated complaints, administrative interventions and a recent overhaul of the salary processing system.Another doctor said the problem extends beyond salaries. “Incentives, arrears and reimbursements have also been pending for months. We continue to provide healthcare services, but we spend a lot of time following up on payments that should come automatically,” said Dr Praveen. For many employees, the uncertainty has become part of the job.A joint representation signed by 17 medical officers in charge and forwarded to the civil surgeon on April 24 shows that the doctors already flagged the issue months ago. The representation said that salaries were not released on time for nearly a year and that salaries for Jan, Feb and March 2026 were pending at the time. It also referred to an earlier complaint submitted in Feb, which doctors said elicited assurances of an early resolution but no meaningful improvement.Apart from delayed monthly salaries, the doctors flagged unpaid incentives, arrears pending since the previous year and unpaid honorarium for polio immunisation work. They also demanded that salaries be credited between the 7th and 10th of every month in line with NHM norms.On July 6, the civil surgeon sought explanations from deputy civil surgeons regarding the status of June salary bills, EPF deposits and other pending payments. The latest political intervention came on July 10, when city MLA Mukesh Sharma wrote to chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, alleging that NHM employees did not receive salaries for May and June and that delays of two to three months became common over the past one-and-a-half years.Chief medical officer (CMO) Lokveer Singh told TOI, “We have been working to resolve the issue. Every month, salary calculations are sent to the finance department for approval. If any discrepancies are found, the calculations have to be revised and resubmitted, which causes delays. We have taken steps to streamline the process and salary disbursal should become smoother. The pending arrears will also be cleared.”The joint representation details several unresolved issues across UPHCs. These include incorrect salary credits, pending increments, unpaid maternity and paternity leave dues and reimbursement claims for electricity bills that medical officers said they paid from their own pockets to keep health centres operational.Frustrated by the prolonged delays, the doctors warned that they would stop administrative reporting work if the issues were not resolved within a week, while continuing all patient-facing services, including OPD consultations, TB medicine distribution, laboratory testing and treatment.The documents also suggest that the department was attempting to address structural problems in salary processing. On July 1, the civil surgeon’s office implemented a long-pending state directive shifting preparation and processing of salary bills from the centralised district office to individual UPHCs through the SNA Sparsh and Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portals. The move was intended to decentralise salary processing beginning with June 2026 salaries.However, the transition was followed by fresh concerns. On July 6, a communication referred to observations made by NHM Haryana headquarters after discrepancies were found in 18 activity bills submitted by the district office.According to the health department, several bills were not verified by the district accounts branch before submission, mandatory verification certificates under the SNA Sparsh system were incomplete and some documents submitted were photocopies instead of originals. The state govt warned that avoidable rejection of bills because of procedural lapses, incomplete documentation or incorrect data entry would invite accountability.The city MLA also questioned why doctors were being issued show-cause notices over online reporting instead of action being taken against the district accounts establishment responsible for preparing salary bills.Taken together, the documents point to a prolonged administrative crisis rather than isolated delays. While the department has begun decentralising salary processing, it remains unclear whether the transition will resolve the problem or merely expose deficiencies that have persisted for months.
