Pune: Rs 25,000 Salary Doesn’t Deter MBBS Applicants for PMC Medical Officer Posts
Pune, 14th October 2025: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun the recruitment process for 22 medical officer positions in its health improvement centers and ‘Aapla Dawakhana’ projects, with 265 MBBS candidates applying for the posts despite a monthly salary of just Rs 25,000.
Dr. Nina Borade, Health Chief of the PMC, said, “The response from doctors has been surprising, given that the municipal corporation has struggled to recruit medical staff in the past. The interview process for all 265 candidates is currently underway, and all procedures are being conducted as per the advertisement guidelines.”
The PMC aims to strengthen primary healthcare in the city by establishing a total of 125 health improvement centers and 25 ‘Aapla Dawakhana’ units. Currently, 86 centers are functioning across five zones, while the ‘Aapla Dawakhana’ initiative has started in three locations. These centers offer general medical services, yoga, and exercise training for residents.
Initially, the state government had planned to pay a monthly rent of Rs 1 lakh per center for the ‘Aapla Dawakhana’ project. However, the PMC commissioner directed the use of municipal premises. Later, due to space constraints, some centers were again set up on a rental basis. The responsibility of managing these 33 centers, initially with district surgeons, has now been handed over to the municipal corporation.
According to Dr. Borade, candidates are eligible for a monthly honorarium of Rs 25,000, with an additional Rs 15,000 incentive if they achieve 100 percent of performance targets. “It is encouraging to see qualified and experienced doctors applying for these positions despite the modest pay. This has sparked a lot of discussion within the medical community,” she added.
The current distribution of health improvement centers by zone is as follows: Zone 1 – 23 centers, Zone 2 – 9, Zone 3 – 26, Zone 4 – 23, and Zone 5 – 5.
