CHENNAI: Dentists are demanding the state health department to fill associate professor posts in all three state-run dental college and hospitals by conducting promotion counselling, which has not been held for 10 years, mainly due to legal issues.
A senior dental doctor alleged that all the 11 sanctioned posts in the Government Dental College and Hospital in Pudukkottai, which was inaugurated in 2023 by the chief minister, have been lying vacant.
All three sanctioned posts by the government for associate professor in the Government Cuddalore Dental College in Chidambaram are also vacant. Also, of the 28 sanctioned associate professor posts in the decades-old Government Dental College and Hospital in Chennai, 19 posts have been vacant for years.
Dr S Perumal Pillai, state president, Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors, said without promotion counselling, juniors are also affected, working without any promotion for years.
Dr Pillai said after the Dental Council of India (DCI) sent show cause notices to Pudukkottai and Cuddalore Dental College and Hospitals, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DME) hurriedly diverted dentists from various government hospitals to Cuddalore and Pudukkottai dental colleges.
This again will take a toll on patient care in hospitals from where they have been shifted, resulting in people having to travel all the way to government medical colleges for dental care. Instead of creating new posts, diverting the existing manpower from various hospitals is not a healthy practice, a dentist said. A dentist, who did not want to be named, said that apart from dental college and hospitals, posts are also vacant in various medical college hospitals where a separate dental unit is functioning.
The DME, in its transfer and position order dated July 11 and 23 respectively, had said that to address vacancies in three government dental colleges, a special counselling session was conducted on July 10.
As vacancies still remain even after the counselling session, it is essential to address the faculty shortfall to ensure the continued provision of specialised dental care to underprivileged patients and to prevent the issuance of show cause notices or potential disapproval of the government dental colleges.
The DME issued the orders transferring dentists from government hospitals, including Uthangarai in Krishnagiri, Arakkonam, Musiri in Trichy, Madhuranthagam, Sivagangai, and other places to Cuddalore Dental College and Hospital to be posted as assistant professors. When asked, an official from the DME said the panel is ready and soon, associate professor posts will be filled in these colleges.