Paying for Professionals

If one does an analysis of the salary structure in JDWNRH one will find that foreign doctors are paid way higher than local doctors. The same trend will show in the aviation sector or other high skilled sectors.

This is not to begrudge these foreign professionals their pay as we are paying them for their skills, which is in demand.

In the Australia rush, apart from the general rush of people going there to study, the more worrying is our doctors, nurses, aviation people and other skilled people leaving for direct and well paying jobs not in Australia, but also Canada, Singapore and other places.

If the Australia rush has shown anything then it is that we live in a truly global village and there are countries and companies willing to pay for our skilled people.

In that sense the current system of payment and incentives will not be enough to hold back our most skilled and in demand people.

We have to make improvements to our pay system to pay these Bhutanese more based on their skills and its importance.

Calculations must also be based on how much more we have to pay foreigners to replace the same person.

An unfortunate problem in our system is that there is very little respect and appreciation for professionals. While ordinary people appreciate and respect professionals, the system is not able to make them feel wanted and respected.

Our civil service system so far has given a lot of credence to administrators and executives.

This is why the largest numbers of people leaving the civil service are from the professional categories of teachers and medical professionals.

It is also not only an issue of pay, but also of a career path.

It is not necessary that professionals have to be promoted to reward them as they can be rewarded in their own rank with higher pay which can be even higher than executives and politicians.

There is no point in having a scientist Dzongda or a medical Doctor as a Secretary.

As our professionals flee the country there seems to be no shortage of aspiring political parties and politicians coming up.

In one sense this because politics is associated with power and prestige and MPs and Ministers are paid well and get good perks.

We need to do much better to retain and reward our professionals before we lose more of them.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” —Confucius.