Hyderabad: Medical professors try to cash in on shortage of staff

Hyderabad: Junior doctors allege that professors in medical teaching colleges are lobbying to increase their retirement age from 58 to 65 by claiming that there is a serious dearth of professors in some super speciality departments in government hospitals. 

K. Mahesh Kumar, president of Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) says the problem is actually with delayed recruitment. 

“There are some departments in which professors are getting retired. If professors leave service there is no one to get promoted to that position. The situation arises due to non-recruitment of assistant professors since eight years. If assistant professors had been recruited as per regulations, they would have been eligible to be professors by now. Taking advantage of the situation, some people are asking to increase the retirement age from 58 years to 65 years,” Mr Kumar said.

Mr Kumar adds that there are 500 to 600 vacancies of assistant professor posts and the immediate requirement is to fill these vacancies. 

“Those who are going to retire should be hired on contract basis for the time being. Within four or five years the department will have sufficient professors. Rather than doing this, some are pressurising for hike in retirement age. If retirement age is hiked there won’t be options for freshers. For seven-eight years everything will be blocked. The already existing staff who are assistant professor and associate professor can’t get promoted,” added Mr Kumar.

In a letter to health and family welfare principal secretary, A. Shanti Kumari, Mr Kumar stated that around 50 professors are retiring in the next two years and incertain departments of teaching hospitals there are no eligible associate professors to be promoted as professors, which may lead to de-recognition of Post Graduate courses. 

He requested to reappoint the professors on contract basis in required departments.