State-run medical colleges struggle with patient care due to shortage of senior doctors

A glance at the data from the state medical education department shows that the shortage of doctors, who also double up as assistant professors and professors, is not restricted to city-based St George or JJ hospitals. Figures reveal that of the 1765 posts for assistant professors in state-run medical colleges, 824 (or 46.68%) lie vacant

Mumbai Five months after it resumed non-Covid work, St George Hospital in Fort, one of the state-run hospitals in the city, has not taken up any plastic surgery or urology cases as they do not have a dedicated doctor for the same.

State-run medical colleges struggle with patient care due to shortage of senior doctors

Due to the shortage of super-specialty doctors, the hospital refers these patients to its parent Sir JJ hospital at Byculla.

A glance at the data from the state medical education department shows that the shortage of doctors, who also double up as assistant professors and professors, is not restricted to city-based St George or JJ hospitals. Figures reveal that of the 1765 posts for assistant professors in state-run medical colleges, 824 (or 46.68%) lie vacant.

Similar is the case with professors with 168 (or 34.28%) of 490 posts lying empty. While the state has been announcing and opening new medical colleges, vacant posts have been a cause of concern because assistant professors are the backbone of any medical institution by virtue of them being involved in both patient care as well as teaching medical students.

While the shortage of manpower in medical colleges has been worrisome for a while, a very senior faculty from a one state-run medical college said the demand-supply gap started in 2005.

“Till then, things were running fine. There was enough manpower including doctors. It was in 2005 when things started getting out of hand after government medical colleges in Latur, Akola and Kolhapur were started,” he said.

The professor, due to retire soon, said it is when these three medical colleges opened that medical education officials thought of posting manpower from other medical colleges.

“It soon became a trend where instead of creating more posts and hiring staff, the medical education department transferred or posted manpower (professors/assistant professors) from other medical colleges,” he said.

In the last five years, a few more government medical colleges were opened in Satara, Nandurbar, Sindhudurg and Alibag. The permission to start a government medical college at Osmanabad came this year and will be open for admissions in 2022-23. With Osmanabad, Maharashtra has 19 state-run medical colleges.

“For Satara medical college, Miraj and Pune’s BJ Medical college became feeder institutes. Likewise, for Nandurbar medical college, Dhule medical college, and for Alibag medical college Sir JJ Hospital-Mumbai became the feeder institutes where in the professors and assistant professors were posted,” said the professor.

HT is in possession of a September 1 order by the state medical education department to fill posts at the government medical college in Osmanabad, and shows 28 posts including nine assistant professors, 14 associate professors and five professors were taken from government medical colleges of Latur, Solapur and Ambajogai.

“When you take away the staff from one medical college, both tutoring of medical students and patient care gets affected. We are trying our best not to let it affect patient care. Our doctors are overworked, over stressed. We are also taking help from resident doctors to ensure patient care is not hampered. But this has been happening for years,” said a professor.

Another senior faculty from a medical college said in the last few years, at least 50 medical seats were added in many state-run medical colleges. “While the medical seats were increased and medical colleges were added, the system forgot to create new posts and hire manpower. Every time there is a National Medical Commission inspection, faculties are posted from other medical colleges to sail through the inspection,” he said.

Besides medical teachers, state-run medical colleges are also facing shortages of nurses and Class IV staff. According to the data received from the state medical education department, there is a vacancy of 34.22% (4731) for nursing staff.

State-run medical colleges also have 34.64% (1380) vacancy in Group C (technical) and 57.84% (1080) vacancy in Group C (non-technical). Group D has a vacancy of 29.96% (2944) which they are outsourcing.

Dr Samir Golawar, general secretary, Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association (MSMTA) said the solution lies in time-bound promotions. “Like the central government, there should be time bound promotions to get an ample number of teachers. Also, the demand by temporary lecturers to be regularised should be met,” he said.

Dr Pravin Shingare, former director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, (DMER) Maharashtra said the huge number of vacancies has created a problem that is severely affecting patient care and medical teachers.

“The power of recruitment should be given back to DMER. During my tenure, to solve the manpower problem, recruitment power was given to me. However, after my retirement, it was taken back and people who were promoted during my tenure were demoted,” he said.

Dr Shingare said recruiting medical teachers should not be delayed as it increases the suffering of the patients. “There is a great shortage of doctors. Around 20-30 medical teachers have been transferred to Alibag medical college and from BJ Medical College, Pune, to the Satara medical college each. It has created a major shortage of senior doctors to look after the patients at JJ Hospital and BJ Hospital in Pune,” he added.

Vijendra Singh, medical education commissioner of Maharashtra was unavailable for comment. Another state medical education officer said in the last few months they have conducted interviews under Maharashtra Public Service Commission to fill up 1500 posts. “We will be filling up the vacant posts soon,” said the official.