NEW DELHI: 34-year-old Dr Aviral Mathur qualified to become an Assistant Professor at Maulana Azad Medical College after completing his residency at the same institution last year.
He was also selected for a consultant (non-teaching specialist) position at another institute. Despite the opportunity to return to his alma mater in a teaching role, he chose to decline it. The reason—inadequate pay and limited benefits associated with the Assistant Professorship, ironically, is even lesser than what final-year senior residents receive.
“Senior residents in their third year earn a cumulative monthly salary of around Rs 1.6 lakh, whereas teaching assistant professors receive only about Rs 1.23 lakh, all inclusive. That’s a significant disparity. At this stage in life, most of us are either married or starting families. Financial constraints, especially in the face of rising inflation, make pursuing a teaching career a very difficult choice,” said Dr Mathur.
Dr Mathur also highlighted a growing concern in the medical academic field—a sharp decline in interest among young doctors in applying for assistant professorships.
“When I appeared for the interview after my candidature was shortlisted, I noticed a stark difference—there were more applicants for non-teaching posts than for teaching ones. In fact, the number of applications for teaching posts was even fewer than the number of positions advertised,” he said. “And honestly, it’s not surprising. Non-teaching specialists earn around Rs 1.5 lakh per month, enjoy better benefits, and have a more flexible resignation policy, including just a one-month notice period.” A similar dilemma is faced by thousands of medical students who are increasingly reluctant to join the capital’s medical workforce.
While the current government has announced an ambitious overhaul of the public healthcare system, promising a slew of new reforms, the medical fraternity, which is at the forefront of healthcare delivery, continues to grapple with a crisis of inadequate and overburdened workforce. This growing disinterest is further straining an already overburdened healthcare system. Government’s response to a recent RTI filed by Dr Aman Kaushik confirms the alarming shortage of specialist doctors exposing the crisis in public healthcare which the Delhi administration has been ignoring for a long time.
The RTI query revealed that 17 per cent of posts in the medical officer cadre are vacant. The situation is even more critical among specialists, where a staggering 38 per cent of positions remain unoccupied. Teaching specialist positions are also suffering, with 22 per cent of seats lying vacant.
With the current scenario, fresh graduates like Kaushik find career progression in government sector questionable. “Despite completing years of rigorous medical education, we find ourselves in a disheartening situation. Freshly graduated MBBS doctors working as junior residents are often paid more than assistant professors who shoulder both teaching and clinical responsibilities. Many among us are in a dilemma to go for government positions,” said Kaushik.
Dr Rohan Krishnan, Chief Patron of the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), said the flawed post-residency system, especially at the consultant and academic levels, is a new issue that is fuelling the already existing shortage. “After completing a three-year postgraduate course and an additional three years of senior residency, when doctors become eligible for Assistant Professor or Consultant posts, their grade pay often decreases by Rs 20,000 to 30,000 compared to what they earned as residents. This financial disincentive creates a lack of interest among doctors to continue in Delhi’s hospitals and medical colleges,” he said.
Meanwhile, heavy reliance on contractual appointments in the government system and gross under-advertisement of vacant posts have further eroded the attractiveness of these roles. Many opt for private practice and hospitals. As a significant number of medical positions remain unfilled, hospitals are forced to rely on temporary arrangements.
“Contractual jobs strip doctors of many of the powers, benefits, and stability traditionally associated with government service. Even basic entitlements like leave are curtailed, and the contractual framework is largely seen as non-supportive and demotivating. Despite nearly 1,000 doctors graduating in a specialty every year in Delhi, less than 500 positions are advertised—and sometimes as few as 1% of the required posts are filled. There is also no fixed schedule for recruitment; advertisements often come after gaps of 2 to 3 years, ignoring the fact that doctors are both retiring and graduating annually. This creates a bottleneck and forces many qualified doctors to either leave Delhi or move to the private sector,” Krishnan explained. Dr Girish Tyagi, President, Delhi Medical Association (DMA) said the young doctors are not getting enough opportunities in government healthcare set-ups. “The government’s focus is more on contractualization and outsourcing. Besides, the working conditions and low pay also don’t make the government sector an impressive prospect,” he added.
Understaffing, long shifts concern for nurses too
The situation is not limited to the doctors. Nurses, who form the backbone of any healthcare system, are also suffering with severe understaffing.
According to norms laid down by the Staff Inspection Unit (SIU), the nursing cadres in Delhi government-run hospitals are understaffed by over 8,000 nursing posts.
These vacancies should have been addressed through regular recruitment cycles. But shockingly, Delhi hasn’t seen permanent recruitment of nurses in more than a decade.
“Over the past 10 years, many nurses have retired, yet no new appointments have been made to replace them. This problem is further compounded by the fact that several new departments and hospital wings have been opened without creating corresponding nursing cadre posts, in clear violation of SIU guidelines. Hospitals are also failing to maintain the mandated nurse-patient ratio, leading to an unsustainable workload on the existing nursing staff,” said Anita Panwar, secretary, All India Government Nurses Federation (AIGNNF).