PATNA: Specialist doctors willing to serve in difficult areas will now get handsome salaries and perks. The National Health Mission (NHM) is in the process of recruiting 701 specialist doctors on contract basis in Bihar . These doctors will be posted in places where medical professionals do not want to stay. The state health department is also in the process of recruiting 2,425 permanent doctors for government hospitals across the state.The process related to appointment of permanent doctors has already been initiated by the health department. “The NHM will recruit the doctors on contract basis. In a bid to end the shortage of medical professionals permanently, the state government has also decided to recruit 2,425 doctors. The process will be completed within the next three months,” health department principal secretary Sanjay Kumar told TOI.An official looking after appointment of 701 doctors for difficult areas said these doctors would be paid anywhere between Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 2 lakh per month apart from getting hard area allowance and performance-linked incentives. “Since doctors avoid working in difficult areas, we have decided to pay them handsomely,” said the official.The process for recruitment of service delivery staff on contract basis is also on. These staff will be responsible for implementing various health programmes of the government. There are altogether 250 vacancies for service delivery staff.Sanjay said the department has also begun the process to appoint 4,000 medical officers and 9,130 grade ‘A’ nurses. These appointments may give some relief to health department which is reeling from shortage of staff.As per the data shared by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi during an event to mark one year of Ayushman Bharat scheme on Monday, there was one doctor for 3,207 people in Bihar, though World Health Organization has set the parameter of one doctor per 1,000 people. The deputy CM had also said that states like Tamil Nadu (four doctors per 1,000 people) and Kerala (1.5 doctors per 1,000 people) were performing much better than Bihar.