In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, several state governments are hiring epidemiologists in a hurry. However most advertisements placed by state governments are for a one-year contractual job paying just over Rs 33,000 per month, which epidemiologists say is a paltry sum.In most cases, the ads by states seemed to be in response to the Union health ministry’s letter earlier this month regarding the need to fill up vacant posts for epidemiologists in the states.Many of these states do not have a dedicated public health cadre in their health systems like Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu have.For instance, the Karnataka State Health and Family Welfare Society as part of the National Health Mission recently placed an advertisement for a state epidemiologist offering a monthly salary of only Rs 33,600.Madhya Pradesh, too, had advertised for district epidemiologists “to ensure human resources in districts for prevention of Covid-19, National Health Mission, Madhya Pradesh, is inviting applications from candidates for contractual district epidemiologist positions (22 vacanices)”, read the ad asking those eligible to apply by April 11.‘Poor salary reflects govt’s attitude’The typical ads issued by states said the appointment would be “purely on contractual basis for a period of one year, renewable subject to Government of India approval and satisfactory performance”. It added that any claim for absorption in regular positions would not be entertained in the future. Similar ads were placed by Himachal Pradesh Assam , Chhattisgarh and Bihar among other states. The salaries offered were Rs 33,600 to Rs 40,000 per month.Last year in Punjab , the State AIDS Control Society had issued an ad for an epidemiologist with more or less the same qualifications as that demanded by the states — MBBS plus a post-graduate degree or diploma in public health, applied epidemiology and experience of at least three years. However the salary offered was Rs 76,000 per month, about twice as much as currently being offered. Similarly, Delhi health mission’s ad for an epidemiologist put out last year offered over Rs 85,000 per month plus conveyance allowance.“The poor salary is a reflection of the government’s attitude towards the specialty. They think epidemiologists are needed to do a bit of data analysis . In the Covid response, there is very little role played by epidemiologists. It is dominated by clinicians saying we need more ventilators,” said Dr N Devadasan, former director of the Institute of Public Health.