Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, May 18: The Super Speciality Departments at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar are grappling with a shortage of faculty with over 60 posts lying vacant.
According to information provided in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application, more than 80 faculty positions have been sanctioned across 16 Super Speciality Departments at GMC’s Super Speciality Hospital, Shireen Bagh. However, only 22 of these posts have been filled, while the remaining are vacant.
In the Cardiology Department, out of three sanctioned Professor posts, two have been filled while one remains vacant. All three Associate Professor posts are vacant, and six out of seven Assistant Professor posts are also unfilled.
In the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Department, all five sanctioned posts are lying vacant. A similar situation exists in Clinical Hematology.
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In Endocrinology, three out of five posts are vacant; in Medical Gastroenterology, three out of five posts are vacant; and in Medical Oncology, five out of six posts are unfilled.
In Nephrology, the lone Professor post and all three Assistant Professor posts are vacant-three out of five sanctioned positions remain unfilled.
In Neurology, two out of five posts are vacant; in Urology, three out of five posts are vacant; and in Surgical Gastroenterology, three out of five posts are vacant.
In the Pediatric Surgery Department, the sanctioned post of Professor is filled, while the Associate Professor post and two Assistant Professor posts remain vacant. Of the five sanctioned faculty positions in the department, three are filled and two are vacant.
In the Traumatology and Surgery Department, all four sanctioned posts for Associate and Assistant Professors are lying vacant.
Notably, overall, the GMC Srinagar is currently experiencing a faculty crunch, with more than 150 Assistant Professor positions and 25 posts at the Professor level remaining unfilled across 53 Departments which include 37 General Departments and 16 Super Speciality Departments.
Of the 108 sanctioned Professor positions, only 83 are currently occupied.
Several departments are operating without faculty at all three levels-Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor.
The unfilled Professor-level posts are primarily attributed to delays in the promotion process, which advances candidates only after they fulfill specific eligibility conditions.
In an effort to mitigate the shortfall, GMC Srinagar has issued advertisements for faculty recruitment-covering Assistant, Associate, and Professor roles-across six sub-specialities at the Pediatric Hospital.
These appointments are being made under the academic arrangement guidelines outlined in S.O. 364 of 2020, and the hiring process is presently in progress.
The persistent shortage is having a profound impact on both medical education and patient services, with thousands of individuals relying on the institution daily and hundreds of students depending on it for clinical training.
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