The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has directed the colleges to stop transferring faculty members with "on-deputation" appointments to other Government Medical Colleges. This will be a significant relief for understaffed GMCs.
For many years, the National Medical Commission (NMC) of the Centre has inspected new GMCs in this manner to solve the shortage of medical staff.
In a letter dated July 4, the DMER ordered all the college deans to stop the ‘on-deputation’ appointments and to bring back all the staff members to their parent colleges. They have summoned back all the faculty members. "I am unable to provide any additional information because it is a sub-judice case," stated a senior official of the state's medical education department.
Every year, during inspections by the NMC, the supreme body that grants final permission to a new medical college, professors from big GMCs like Mumbai, Nagpur, and Aurangabad were dispatched to newly built GMCs on deputation to demonstrate that they met the national requirements.
This governmental ritual helped meet the criteria of having an adequate number of faculty in GMCs during NMC inspections. It also prevented the loss of medical seats.
DMER received criticism for moving 33 faculty members on deputation in May from different GMCs to the new GMC in Parbhani before the NMC inspection. The matter was also brought up in July before the Bombay High Court's (HC) bench in Aurangabad.
The state medical education department's biggest problem will be filling the open positions with nine new GMCs. In 22 medical colleges, about 60% of the teaching positions were unfilled in 2022. The departments of radiology, dermatology, orthopedics, and pulmonology had the most openings.
Maharashtra, since COVID is witnessing a shortage of doctors. To overcome this in the long term, the state government has approved the establishment of new government medical colleges in nine districts. A budget of ₹4,366 crore will be allocated for this project. This project will lead to the development of healthcare and infrastructure for medical studies in the state.
The Maharashtra government has decided to built nine new state-run medical colleges. It will be located at Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Buldhana, Washim, Wardha, Amravati, Jalna, Thane, and Palghar districts. It is pertinent to note that the state already has such colleges in 23 districts in Maharashtra. After the establishment of these nine new colleges, 32 districts out of 36 will have government-aided medical colleges.
A government Resolution (GR) was released by Maharashtra’s government about setting up the colleges in these districts. The GR noted that with these new colleges, the state's capacity for medical education will rise to 900 seats, aiding in the production of qualified and specialized doctors. The purpose of establishing these colleges is to address the state's doctor shortage and provide timely access to healthcare services.
A former senior official of DMER claimed that NMC had a "minimum faculty requirement" before it would approve a medical college, referring to the long-standing practice of on-deputation appointments. For example, according to NMC, the minimum number of faculty members in general medicine for 250 MBBS students is 40 (one professor, seven associate professors, eight assistant professors, eight senior residents, and sixteen junior residents).
"But rather than filling the positions and regularly promoting academics, the state relies on such short-term fixes that worsen the teacher-to-student ratio disparity. This has an impact on how effectively pupils learn, both theoretically and practically," the official added.
When Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel filed a PIL to request the filling of vacancies in the state health department, the long-ignored matter was brought to light.
Presently, the state is witnessing a staff crunch, and nine new colleges in the pipeline will require faculty members to teach students. So how the government will resolve the issue of GMCs being permanently understaffed is yet to be known.
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