NEW DELHI: Struggling with acute shortage of doctors that has kept the newer six AIIMS in various parts of the country from getting an upstart, the Centre has taken a slew of measures to fill the gaps in faculty positions.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has invited retired doctors from India's three top medical institutions-- AIIMS, Delhi, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry to join the fledgling institutions.
The other measures include offering fresh postgraduate students from AIIMS, Delhi a choice to join new institutions to campus placements and asking senior medical teachers from well-established medical colleges to go to these institutes as visiting faculties. The new AIIMS have been opened at Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna and Rishikesh in 2012 but have failed to ease the pressure off AIIMS, Delhi largely due to infrastructure gaps and the massive shortage of doctors.
Except for AIIMS, Rishikesh, where up to 78 per cent of a total of 933 posts of doctors at Professors, additional professors, associate professors, assistant professors and senior and junior residents are filled as on August 1, most other new AIIMS are making do with just 50 per cent strength against sanctioned posts.
"The doctors at AIIMS, PGI and JIPMER retire at 65 years of age but we are offering them a join to work at newer AIIMS till they are 75," said a senior official in the Health Ministry. The Ministry had also arranged for campus placement of post-graduate students at AIIMS Delhi, of whom 35-40 doctors have agreed to accept the offer following their selections.
"In the beginning, they will join as assistant professors on contract as the eligibility criteria for regular assistant professors require them to have at least three years of experience post PG but later they can be regularised," said another official dealing with the project. "These new recruitees have been offered a salary of Rs 1 lakh each and it's heart-warming to note that they are coming forward to contribute to building the new institutions despite lure of much better pay packages in the private sector," the official added.
A senior faculty member at one of the new AIIMS, however, said that the lacunae in equipment and infrastructure at these institutions were major challenges that are often frustrating for doctors. "A surgeon, for example, is bound to get frustrated if he or she cannot get to practice surgeries due to deficiencies on the part of the hospital. So if the Centre is serious about inviting quality doctors to work at these institutions these issues should be addressed urgently," he said, requesting anonymity.