Shortage of faculty hits premier institutes

As the existing tertiary care government hospitals continue to suffer due to shortage of manpower, the Centre plans to set up 18 more on the lines of AIIMS.

While the first batch of six new AIIMS is almost ready, bulk of the positions — both teaching and non-teaching — in these institutes are vacant, adversely affecting the delivery of healthcare services in Patna, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Jodhpur and Rishikesh, where they are located. The premier institute in Delhi too is seriously understaffed.

Mooted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government almost 15 years ago, the six new AIIMS are now partially functioning from rented space as civil and electrical works for their own buildings are about to be completed. But, manpower remains a big concern.

Each of these six new AIIMS have 305 sanctioned posts for the faculty and 3,776 posts for the non-faculty jobs. On an average, about 250 faculty posts are vacant in each of these new AIIMS.

Less than 500 non-faculty posts were filled up in Patna and Raipur whereas in other four, the numbers are even less.

In AIIMS Delhi, as many as 232 faculty posts were vacant as on April 14, 2016, out of which, 66 positions were for professors, 10 for additional professors, 23 for associate professors and 131 for assistant professors.

But in the last two years, 14 doctors resigned from AIIMS due to lack of office space and logistical problems.

The space crunch has become such a serious issue, the faculty association of AIIMS wrote to the director, requesting him not to go ahead with the recruitment process for 118 posts of assistant professors, till new work and housing space is created. The interview is scheduled in August.

Notwithstanding the faculty crunch, the Health Ministry plans creation of 12 more AIIMS in Mangalgiri (Andhra Pradesh), Guwahati, a second AIIMS in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh (home state of health minister J P Nadda); two in Jammu and Kashmir, Nagpur, Bhatinda, Tamil Nadu, two in Uttar Pradesh (Rae Bareli and Poorvanchal) and Kalyani (West Bengal) over the next 10 years.

As early works commenced on all these projects, Health Ministry sources pointed out there was no clear roadmap on how the faculty shortage could be addressed without compromising on the quality of AIIMS.

“It is a matter of serious concern. All the six AIIMS are facing shortage in faculty and non-faculty posts, compounded by the inertia and indifference of the health department in filling up the posts,” suggests a panel of lawmakers, who reviewed these projects. For instance, the interviews for faculty positions at AIIMS, Patna, concluded on February 11, 2016, but the selections are yet to be ratified by the general body of the institute though the Health Ministry was to complete the process by March 2016.