Jammu, Sep 24: To overcome the shortage of faculty members in the Health and Medical Education Department, the state Government is contemplating to relax the eligibility criteria and enhance retirement age of teaching posts.
 Official sources said that unable to cope up with the present crisis that has been hampering the health services in the state and particularly keeping in view the upcoming Super Speciality hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar, the state Health and Medical Education Department has formulated a detailed proposal and forwarded it to Law Department for approval.
 As per the proposal, the department mulls to minimize the qualifying services required for a medico to be appointed as a faculty member in the twin government-run medical colleges at Srinagar and Jammu.
 Talking to Greater Kashmir, Commissioner Secretary Health, Manoj Dwivedi said: “As per the existing system in the state, it takes 13 years (5+5+3) to become a professor. The department has approved a proposal in this regard to bring down this period from 13 to 9 years (3+3+3). The proposal has been forwarded to the Law Department for issuing an SRO in this regard.”
 “We are awaiting the nod of the Law Department in this regard”, he said while admitting that there was deficiency of staff members in the medical colleges.
 He also informed that as per MCI norms, it takes 9 to 10 years to become a faculty member adding, “After the issuance of SRO, we will have faculty members on fast track basis. A lecturer will become Assistant Professor in 3 years, an Assistant Professor will become Associate Professor in 3 years and an Associate Professor can be promoted as Professor in 3 years.” This way, he said, the upper posts will also be filled on fast track basis.
 The Government is also considering the proposal to enhance the retirement age of the faculty members from the present 58 years to 65 years on the analogy of other states in the country.
 Highly placed sources, however, informed Greater Kashmir, that the proposal, which has been gathering dust in the power corridors, may take some more time before it is considered due to the financial implications involved.
 It may be mentioned that the basic purpose of the faculty members is teaching and training of the MBBS and MD students for patient care. The intake capacity of the MBBS and MD students in the Medical College also directly depends upon the number and position of faculty members.
 “If there are sufficient faculty members in a college, the number of MBBS and MD seats can be increased”, sources informed adding, “The Central Government had last year asked the state Government to enhance the seats from 100 to 150 but the state was unable to take the benefit due to the deficiency of faculty members.”

Lastupdate on : Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST