KOTTAYAM: In yet another setback to the Directorate of Medical Education’s (DME) move to make MBBS the basic qualification for the entry cadre in the medical education sector, the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) has stayed a written examination scheduled for November 2 by the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC), for the recruitment of lecturers in the Departments of Forensic Medicine and General Surgery with relaxed qualifications.
In an interim order on October 30, the KAT said: “All further proceedings pursuant to the notifications, including written exams have been stayed.”The order was issued on the basis of the petitions filed by Dr Boban Babu and Dr Neena Priyadarisini, PG holders in Forensic Medicine and General Surgery subjects respectively, challenging the government’s move to recruit lecturers in their respective departments with MBBS as the basic qualification.
They challenged the government’s move to conduct a written examination for lecturer posts on November 2, even while they were included in the PSC’s rank list for the post of assistant professor in the Medical Education Department, which came into effect on August 9, 2017.The complainants said, “The lecturer post is non-existent as per the regulations of the Medical Council of India (MCI).” They said as per the existing government order only persons with PG qualification were eligible for appointment as assistant professors and a lecturer shall be appointed only if sufficient number of candidates with PG qualification were not available in the respective departments. The court will consider the case after three weeks.
Earlier, in an order on May 23, 2017, the KAT had struck down the government move to conduct recruitment to the entry-level posts in the subject of cardiology with MBBS as the basic qualification. On a petition filed by Dr Sajeer Kalathingathodika, the KAT had declared that “only candidates with DM/M.ch/DNB in the discipline concerned are eligible for appointment” in that recruitment process.
KAT had also directed the PSC to “ensure that only candidates who were qualified as per the regulations of the MCI were included in the rank list for the post of assistant professor in super speciality subjects.”
Meanwhile, in another case filed by Dr Vidya Annapoorni and eight others in KAT challenging the recruitment of MBBS doctors to the super speciality subject of Paediatric Cardiology, the PSC said the relaxation was owing to the non-availability of candidates with requisite teaching experience recommended by the MCI.
Following this, the KAT had directed the PSC to conduct one-time verification of the documents of the applicants claiming to have super speciality qualifications. This case will be considered further on November 14.The government’s move to scale down the qualification for the recruitment to medical education sector has created widespread resentment among the medical community.