Faculty shortage in State medical colleges

Prof. (Dr.) Dharmakanta Kumbhakar

(drkdharmakanta1@gmail.com) 

 The Union government shared the information in the Lok Sabha in August last year that India had added 225 new medical colleges in the last five years, with the total number surging 47 percent to 704 as of 2023–24. Similarly, the number of undergraduate seats grew 61 percent to 1,07,950, and the number of postgraduate seats also doubled in the last five years.

The Union government has a goal of having at least one medical college in every district, for which it has already put in place a scheme to set up new medical colleges attached to existing districts or referral hospitals in underserved areas of the country. The government has also done the work of establishing an AIIMS in every state, taking it from six to 22.

During this period, Assam doubled the number of government medical colleges from six to 12, with more than double the numbers of undergraduate and post-graduate seats available five years ago, to 1,500 MBBS, 722 PG, and 46 DM/MCh seats, according to data. Many more medical colleges are coming up in different districts of Assam in the future under the Central Government scheme and are in various stages of development. Guwahati is going to have its second medical college very soon.

The establishment of new medical colleges is well intentioned and much needed, as these will produce more doctors to fulfil the World Health Organisation standard of one doctor per 1,000 people and will provide health care facilities to citizens, reducing the demand-supply gap.

New medical colleges are being opened every other year in Assam to increase UG and PG seats, but this expansion is going hand-in-hand with a crisis—a shortage of teaching faculties—which has negatively impacted the quality of medical education and will have serious implications for the health care system in the long run, producing underskilled doctors. The government must ensure that the students have qualified and skilled teachers. Of course, this is not a problem specific to Assam only; it is a common problem for all medical colleges in India, including AIIMS. As per the information shared by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in response to a query raised in the Rajya Sabha, about 2,161 faculty posts are currently vacant out of 5,527 sanctioned posts in all functioning AIIMS. AIIMS, New Delhi, is leading the list of such institutes.

The shortage of teachers in medical colleges in Assam is mostly in non-clinical subjects (basic sciences), anesthesiology, and radiology. Nowadays, non-clinical PG seats remain vacant in most of the colleges even after zero NEET-PG score eligibility and zero fee offer. Graduating MBBS students hardly opt to study non-clinical subjects further. Medicos pick up these subjects with great difficulty and a heavy heart. Therefore, most of the time, faculty posts in non-clinical subjects remain vacant due to a lack of qualified candidates. There is a need to attract teachers in non-clinical subjects by providing extra salary and benefits so that young medical graduates prefer to undergo PG courses in these subjects and join as faculty in the medical colleges. Otherwise, the National Medical Commission must increase the permissible intake of non-medical faculty in medical colleges to 100 percent to get a sufficient number of teachers in non-clinical subjects. Moreover, the faculty of anesthesiology and radiology should be provided extra monetary benefits so that they join the medical colleges instead of joining some private setup. As per a report, the Government of Assam is giving thought in this regard.

It is also seen that most of the teaching faculty of medical colleges in Assam opt either for voluntary retirement or resignation. The super-specialist faculty is leaving medical colleges to join corporate and private hospitals. Along with better pay, they get a chance to showcase their expertise in corporate and private hospitals. To stop this trend, the government must adopt some policies for the teachers, like a fair and transparent transfer policy, a higher salary, better accommodation, recreational scope, proper working facilities, etc. One hopes the government will take the necessary steps in this regard. However, the state government has already increased the retirement age of medical college teachers to 70 years, which will partially fill up the shortage of faculties. Of course, in the long run, the young faculty members will not get a chance to become professors as the government is increasing the retirement age and appointing retired faculties in medical colleges. Moreover, regular departmental promotion should be assured.

The way reservations are implemented in faculty recruitment and promotion also causes problems in achieving sufficient teachers in medical colleges. Advertisements seek candidates from historically marginalised Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, females, and people with disabilities. If they are unable to find candidates, those posts go vacant. The government needs to have special drives to fill the vacant posts, as many medical colleges have had backlogs for many years. If no eligible candidates are available in the reserved category, then posts should be offered to general category candidates.

The medical college faculties perform double duties: teaching and patient care. However, their pay structure is the same as that of teachers at other educational institutes, despite different criteria in entry level, duration of courses, profession, etc. The faculty members of medical colleges feel deprived regarding salary and other facilities in comparison to their counterparts in other educational institutions.

One needs economic security to give one’s best in any profession. Due to their low salaries, the teachers of medical colleges are unable to do justice to their profession. They need to engage in private practice for extra income. There is a need for a higher pay structure for the teachers of medical colleges. One hopes the government will take the necessary steps in this regard.

Again, it is seen that many faculty posts in medical colleges remain vacant at the entry level. Young medical postgraduates do not want to join medical colleges as they get lucrative offers from the private sector. They do not join the medical colleges due to the low salary scale. The true economic status of medical college teachers in Assam is really pathetic, considering their status. As teaching in government medical colleges is not rewarding in material terms, the profession does not attract the brighter and more dynamic young medical postgraduates. There is a need to attract fresh minds in medical teaching by offering attractive salaries, job security, provident funds, post-retirement benefits, etc., so that the profession attracts the best and brightest medical post-graduates in Assam, which will give a great boost to modern medical teaching in the coming days.