ahmedabad dr snehal parmar currently posted as surveillance medical officer smo in uttar pradesh with the world health organization who is one of the seven graduates of master in public health mph from indian institute of public health gandhinagar iiphg who were picked up by the global agencyhaving bds degree before mph dr parmar also worked in gujarat and rajasthan including during the pandemic currently im working with the national public health surveillance project of the government of india and overseeing two districts basti and sant kabir nagar up to two years back who or undp would not take a bds graduate but covid19 has created awareness about the importance of public health its a great chance for professionals like us he saidpandemic brought public health in focusapart from the seven grads two others have got recruited by undp another international agency of repute from iiphg in addition several others were picked by state governments for their healthrelated projects in the wake of the pandemic prof dileep mavalankar director of iiphg said pandemic brought public health into sharp focus and spiked demand for experts our highest package has more than doubled compared to last year whereas median pay package has increased by 50 it indicates a rise in demandindustry experts said that the wholike international organizations offer packages of about rs15 lakh per annum the amount may vary based on location and roles offered average starting salary for public health experts is around rs 48 lakh to rs 72 lakh per annum said experts prof mavalankar said that the admission process for hospital management course is still going on compared to 23 applications we receive annually from mbbs graduates this year we have received 12 we believe its a clear effect of the pandemic he said the trend is likely to continue for a yearhealthcare professionals remained one of the top gainers during pandemic with a sudden spike in demand hospitals said that on an average the staff has received 2025 rise right from specialists to the sweepers