MARD writes to DMER for urgent recruitment of medical teachers

In a letter dated March 13 to DMER, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has said the shortage of medical teachers has affected their academic work as there is a shortage of postgraduate guides across the medical colleges in the state

Mumbai: With a shortage of around 1,000 assistants, associate professors, and professors across government medical colleges in the state, the resident doctors have written to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) asking for urgent recruitment.

MARD writes to DMER for urgent recruitment of medical teachers

In a letter dated March 13 to DMER, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has said the shortage of medical teachers has affected their academic work as there is a shortage of postgraduate guides across the medical colleges in the state.

Grant Medical College and JJ Group of Hospitals alone have a shortage of 30 medical teachers, said MARD. “We have been facing significant challenges because of the shortage of postgraduate guides within our medical system, which has led to significant challenges for medical students pursuing MD/MS and adversely impacted their academic progress,” said Dr Abhijit Helge, president, Central MARD, who explained the guides provide crucial mentorship, supervision, and support throughout postgraduate studies.

The role of PG guides is indispensable in shaping the academic and professional development of medical students pursuing MD/MS, said Helge. “The current shortage of qualified and available PG guides has resulted in several problems faced by students and has impacted their synopsis, thesis and research activities,” he added.

“The shortage of medical teachers in all the medical colleges has resulted in a compromised training of the resident doctors throughout the state. Apart from significant deficiencies in the academics, the lack of senior faculty has also affected patient care since it is the senior faculty who guides and mentors the resident doctors and teaches them the nuances of diagnosis and treatment,” explained Dr Sarbik De, vice president, Central MARD.

In July last year, MARD discussed the shortage of guides leading to a delay in the submission of their thesis. The director of DMER, who was present at the joint meeting held to discuss the mental health of resident doctors, had said MPSC recruitment was going on to resolve faculty shortage. The MARD had also demanded that DMER cancel the unnecessary transfer of guides. MARD had discussed flexibility for the guide-student ratio on an interim basis to resolve the shortage of guide issues for the current batches and MUHS had then promised to approach the National Medical Commission for special provisions.

“Every year we see resident doctors who do not have guides and their thesis gets delayed. The recruitments happened but still there is a significant shortage,” said one of the MARD representatives.