NMC recognition issue haunts 40% of TN's state medical colleges

Chennai: Nearly 40 per cent of state-run medical colleges in Tamil Nadu face the risk of withdrawal of recognition by the National Medical Commission (NMC), as at least 30 per cent of posts of professors and associate professors in these colleges are vacant. Colleges will not be able to implement the Aadhaar-based biometric attendance, as mandated by the NMC, unless these posts are filled, say government doctors' bodies.

According to Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association, nearly 450 out of the sanctioned 1,400 professor posts and 550 out of 1,600 sanctioned associate professor posts are vacant in various medical colleges across the state.

Barring some colleges such as Madras Medical College, which has a surplus of staff, many government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu will not be able to implement the NMC rule without exposing shortage of staff. "At least 40 per cent of the colleges do not have adequate faculty," said TN Doctors Association president Dr K Senthil.

The crisis could have been avoided had the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) conducted counselling for promotions on time, he added. "There are enough doctors eligible for promotion from associate professor to professor and assistant professor to associate professor. But the DME did not conduct the counselling for more than two years. This has resulted in a huge backlog. There are more than 1,000 eligible doctors awaiting promotions. Three months ago, the court had stayed the counselling but still the state did not initiate the process to get the interim order vacated," he said.

Many colleges haven't even registered faculty, demonstrators, tutors and residents in the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system, the association said. The apex regulatory body said faculty must mark attendance through this network twice a day - both while entering and exiting the college.

During NMC inspections, doctors are transferred from other medical colleges on a temporary basis to new colleges or junior doctors are shown in senior posts to show all posts are full, said Service Doctors Post-Graduate Association state secretary Dr A Ramalingam. The doctors will be directed to return to their original colleges once the inspection is over. In many cases, there are no hard copies of the transfer order, he said.

"This illegality can be easily avoided if the state had increased the sanctioned posts. The number of medical colleges have more than tripled in the last 15 years, but sanctioned posts for professors have not increased proportionately. Even the sanctioned posts have not been fully filled," he said.

However, officials at the DME (in charge) disagreed with the allegations. "Doctors are being asked to be present during the meeting. No doctor is holding jobs in two institutions. We will be starting the process for promotions once the stay in the court is vacated," the official said.