43% of Posts for Faculty Doctors Vacant in 7 Functional AIIMS

In All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, 670 faculty doctors are working at present against the sanctioned strength of 1,042, according to Ashwini Kumar Choubey, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare. The junior minister said this in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday. He added that beside faculty doctors, 958 junior residents and 1,350 senior residents are in position for patient care, and 56 faculty doctors have been appointed on contractual basis for the position of assistant professors.

According to the data given by the minister, out of the 2,395 sanctioned posts for faculty doctors in the new AIIMS in Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, Rishikesh, Mangalagiri, Nagpur, Kalyani and Raebareli, only 1,031 posts are filled, where as 1,364, that is 56.95% of the posts remain vacant. Out of these 9 AIIMS, six are functional – Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh and 47.49% of the seats are vacant.

In the nine AIIMS, out of the 2,002 sanctioned posts for senior residents, 850, that is, 42.46% of the seats remain vacant. Out of the 1,814 sanctioned posts for junior residents, 509, that is, 28.06% of the seats are vacant. For the six functional AIIMS, the percentage of vacant posts for senior residents and junior residents are 42.41% and 27.85%, respectively.

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The minister said that in AIIMS Delhi, a total of 90 assistant professors, 2,270 senior residents, and 2617 junior residents have been in appointed during the last three years. In the six other AIIMS, a total of 2,771 doctors had been appointed in 2018.

He said that actions are taken to fill up the vacant posts as and when required, implying that the current number of employed doctors in these institutions were enough to meet the requirements. However, he also added that several measures have been taken to fill up the vacant posts. “Filling up of vacant faculty posts in the new AIIMS by taking serving faculty from government medical colleges/institutes on deputation basis has also been allowed. Contractual engagement of retired faculty of government medical colleges/institutes up to 70 years of age has also been allowed to meet the shortage of faculty in the six new AIIMS. Walk-in-interview for engagement of faculty on contract basis has also been allowed as a stop gap arrangement,” he added.

But keeping in mind that the AIIMS are the biggest public-funded medical institutions in the country, the conditions of these institutions makes one question the state of the public-funded healthcare system across the country.

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