Internal Brain Drain

There is a “reverse or internal brain drain^[1]” of physicians from public hospitals to private hospitals. The industry gets a pool of medical professional trained in public institutions for fee of Rs. 500 a month, move to work in private hospital leading to indirect subsidy of an estimated Rs. 500 crore per year. These corporate hospitals though give high salaries and perks for the senior doctors, however, the junior doctors and paramedics are exploited, where they are paid less and get more work done (Hazarika 2010). Study by Qadeer and Reddy (2013) also shows that the public hospital doctors felt satisfied serving the poor and also having freedom to work and research.

• [1] Hitherto brain drain, where the doctors and engineer left to foreign shores, for better payopportunities and work culture started returning back calling ‘reverse internal brain-drain’.However, with the dismantling of public sector gradually and facilitating the private/ corporatesector, the ‘reverse brain drain’ is seen, where the public hospitals doctors who have gainedexpertise, are hired by the corporate hospitals to serve in their hospitals, full time or part time oras consultants drawing huge salaries.