WARANGAL : The Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) has been facing a staff crunch and financial crisis for the past several years.
The university was established in Warangal in 2016 after the state’s formation and several medical colleges in the state have been affiliated to it. Ever since the establishment of the university, Dr B Karunakar Reddy has been serving as the vice-chancellor (V-C). However, sources alleged that the V-C resides in Hyderabad and is able to visit the university only once a week. His absence is posing a challenge in ensuring efficient functioning of the administration, sources added.
It has been reported that there are 82 sanctioned posts in all departments across the university, however, the institution is short-staffed as only 28 administration posts have been filled. Several retired employees were allegedly taking advantage of the lack of appropriate administration by continuing to work as contract employees in the university.
According to the management of the university, the government has sanctioned 82 regular posts for KNRUHS and the majority of those posts cannot be filled through direct recruitment. The university has repeatedly tried to communicate with the government regarding the shortage of staff and increased workload in view of the increase in the number of colleges, courses, and intake of students.
Additionally, staff from other universities and government organisations have not shown any interest in deputation to KNRUHS, the authorities said.
In spite of a shortage of staff, the university is able to conduct all activities almost normally, as most of its activities are digitised.
The university was the first in the state to digitise all activities and functions effectively despite a more than 100% increase in workload.
The management said that medicine and health sciences institutions in the state and elsewhere function in accordance with the National Medical Commission, based on the guidelines and regulations cited in the NMC Act of 2019. “These establishments do not fall under the UGC’s administration. The UGC does not provide any funds to health universities and is not the statutory body for the regulation of medical education in the country,” they added.