Retirement age of Doctors

Govind Sharma
There are 59 sanctioned posts of Professors in GMC Jammu/Srinagar each, against which nearly 52 are presently working in each of these medical colleges. There are also 58 sanctioned posts of Associate Professors in each these two institutions. It is worth mentioning that DPC of faculty members which has already been convened and if order of the same come out soon will lead to nearly 16/18 more people in various departments of GMC Jammu/Srinagar to become eligible as per SRO 88 dated 14.3.16 to be placed as professors. Further, it is important to note that only 8-10 people over next two years shall attain superannuation in each of these two institutions.
This indicates that as per MCI norms, GMC establishments have nearly two times the eligible faculty already available to be placed as professors in various departments, which means that superannuation of senior faculty shall not make any difference in the available pool of professors and shall not at all make any dent in-order of any deficiency in the teaching faculty pool as per the MCI norms. Thus, actually there is no need and no justified reason of age enhancement of faculty members in GMC Jammu/Srinagar or matter of fact in new medical colleges neither for the permanent faculty nor for the faculty placed or to be placed on SRO 384 read with 409.
It is worth mentioning that vide SRO 266 dated 30/8/2014 the age of retirement has been increased from 54 years to 62 years for the medical faculty of GMC Jammu/Srinagar.
Further, enhancement of age shall not only add to huge financial burden on the State exchequer but also will be not rational and justified as the actual dearth and need of faculty as per MCI norms. This shall also block the career advancement of many eligible faculty members at the level of Associate and Assistant Professors in both these institutions. This will also block the posts to be referred to PSC and to be filled by new faculty members at the level of Lecturer.
Further, in case any department has any shortage of faculty, there the faculty member can be appointed on SRO 384 basis on academic basis till 65 years of his/her age as the case may be. Even if administrative department is thinking on the line of age enhancement in SRO 384 read with 409 then also it is going to prove last nail in the coffin as if given a chance, the faculty retiring at 62 years will prefer to serve till 70 years in GMC Jammu and Srinagar if there is available vacancy rather than serving in new medical colleges where actually there is great need and dearth of the senior faculty. Further, any such proposal of age enhancement upto 70 years cannot be justified on the basis to make new medical colleges start functioning because it has been seen over a time that MCI won’t be counting these heads hired on the contractual basis. Further, it will add to the financial burden which actually cannot be predicted or computed at any junction of time based on which finance department is going to give final nod.
Further, there is a list of nearly 25 Professors available with each GMC Jammu and Srinagar of eligible faculty as 5-year experience as Professor and more than 10 years of Associate Professor who are eligible to be placed on the post of Principals of new medical colleges as per J&K Service Requirement rules 1979 and as per MCI norms.
If Administrative Department really wants to come up with the permanent solution for the smooth functioning of the new medical colleges then they should immediately adopt New Medical Council of India Amendment notification with regard to designation for one time Professors and Associate Professors from the available people working in health department at district hospitals with experience of 18 years and 10 years, respectively. The same model has been adopted in various other states including Himachal Pradesh with success. It will even create a pool after 5 years of serving as Professor to claim eligibility for the post of Principal in these new medical colleges.
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