Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday issued orders promoting 118 associate professors
from government medical colleges and teaching hospitals to the rank of
professor. Among those advanced, 81 doctors are from 10 clinical streams, while
37 belong to non-clinical disciplines, and two are from super-speciality
departments.
The promotion and
posting proposals received approval from Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav,
in accordance with prevailing service regulations that mandate filling vacant
professor positions through the advancement of qualified associate professors.Also Read:Political recommendations ‘Culprits’ for vacant posts in Govt hospitals: Rajasthan Health MinisterAccording to The Times of India, officials from the ministry stated that 804 professor posts had been
sanctioned across clinical, non-clinical and super-speciality wings, of which
262 positions, nearly 33 percent, remained unoccupied before the latest round of
promotions.
As far as speciality departments are concerned, the workforce
crunch is even more alarming, as there are nearly 155 sanctioned posts for
professors in the state, out of which 100 are still lying vacant. Officials also revealed that only two doctors, one from the department of Paediatric
Surgery and another from the Medical Oncology department, have secured promotions as
professors in the super speciality department because there were no other eligible
candidates who could meet the criteria for promotion as per the norms, reports The Daily.
According to the rules, a
candidate needs a minimum of 3 years’ teaching experience as an associate
professor to be eligible for a promotion. Expressing his concerns, Minister
Satya Kumar Yadav pointed out that there has been a high rate of vacancy in
super-speciality departments, especially in departments that had to face a considerably high amount of patients for advanced care.Also Read:Vacant Posts, Unwilling Professors! AP GMCs in crisis as 32 percent eligible Doctors Decline PromotionsLast year, Medical
Dialogues reported that faculty shortage in Andhra Pradesh’s Government Medical
Colleges (GMCs) raised alarm, with 32% of eligible government doctors refusing
promotions to Professor positions, despite 33% of GMC posts remaining vacant. Concerned
by this alarming trend, Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav has directed the
Special Chief Secretary to implement measures to address faculty shortages and
encourage doctors to take up promotions.