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Amid retirement age stir, doctors' shortage remains

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Amid retirement age stir, doctors' shortage remainsLUCKNOW: With faculties of two of the country’s premier medical institutions at loggerheads on the issue of extension of the retirement age of doctors, shortage of practitioners is an issue raised by both sides, but with different reasons.

Recently, King George’s Medical University (KGMU) advertised for recruitment to 125 faculty posts. It has 428 faculty members currently employed. At Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), of the approved close to 400 faculty posts, 277 are vacant and process of recruitment has been underway.

According to a handful of senior faculty members at SGPGIMS and KGMU who are about to retire at 65 years of age, in the next few months, shortage of teaching faculty is only going to worsen if those at higher posts are made to retire at 65.

Meanwhile, the comparatively younger batch of faculty claimed that the said posts have been advertised for around three years now, even receive applicants, but are not filled up due to the lack of motivation among the young. The applicants are not attracted to the pay and perks at the institutions, they say. The superannuation of seniors, they added, will demotivate the young further as they see no career growth in joining state medical universities over private options.

“There is extreme shortage of doctors in the state and not just in these two institutions. While assistant professors are still available, at the level of associate professor and professor, there is a crunch. If seniors are retired at 65 years, in the absence of senior professors, some departments could be on the verge of de-recognition by Medical Council of India,” said Prof GK Singh of KGMU.

Countering this, Prof MS Ansari, secretary of SGPGIMS’s faculty forum, said, “Recent advertisements for posts at SGPGI have received considerable number of applications which shows there is no dearth of young faculty wanting to join specialist posts. The hindrances are category-wise reservation on posts and limited upgrade of infrastructure in the past 25 years. To add to it, almost 15 faculty members have left SGPGIMS for greener pastures and joined corporate set-ups in the past 10 years since they felt a career blockade here with department headship and other administrative posts held on to by senior professors for the longest time.”

“It is surprising that superannuation is being proposed as a solution rather than fresh advertisements for young and enthusiastic faculty. For the past five years, faculty recruitment has been postponed at SGPGIMS deliberately citing technical issues,” he said.

General secretary of KGMU Teachers’ Association Prof Santosh Kumar added, “The old guard refuses to leave and make space for the next in line who have been waiting to move ahead for years. The younger faculty, while interested in working at institutions like KGMU and SGPGIMS, feel demotivated in joining the ranks of waiting. With no upward movement, what is the incentive for them when pay is not lucrative nor is there an opportunity to hold administrative posts?”



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