Jharkhand announces faculty recruitment for 5 Medical Colleges to fulfil NMC criteria

These contractual posts include at least 86 professors and 83 assistant professors, who will be added to give medical colleges in the State- Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital-Dhanbad, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital-Jamshedpur, Phulo Janho Medical College- Dumka, Medinirai Medical College- Palamau and Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College-Hazaribagh.

These steps are being taken after a meeting of the Jharkhand cabinet on August 24 gave approval to the Contract-Based Appointment Rules, 2021 to fill up vacant posts of professors and associate professors in government medical colleges, reports PTI.

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed out that health care in the tribal state faces acute shortage of doctors and para-medical personnel. It cited lack of adequate funding in the health space as well as shortage of teaching faculty and said it could adversely affect health services in the state in the future.

The upper age of appointment has been fixed at 70 years and a committee has already been formed for selecting candidates as per norms.

For filling up these contractual posts, a walk-in Interview will be held at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi on October 9 and 10, adds the Telegraph India.

After being recruited as the faculty members, the doctors at the posts of Professors will get a monthly salary of Rs 2.5 lakhs, whereas the Assistant Professors will get Rs 2 lakh on monthly basis.

Although these recruitments will be made on a contractual basis for a period of two years, this step by the State Government is going to deal with the faculty deficit at several of the medical colleges of the State and especially after the NMC denied giving recognition to three of its medical colleges.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC, the apex medical education regulatory body recently put the MBBS admission in 3 medical colleges in Jharkhand citing lack of necessary facilities at the establishments.

Stalling the MBBS admission at Palamu, Dumka and Hazaribagh medical colleges in Jharkhand, NMC highlighted the deficit of faculty members, absence of libraries, and laboratory equipments.

Even last year also, these three medical colleges were barred by NMC for admitting students in the MBBS course and back then the Chief Minister Hemant Soren had written to NMC and requested the apex medical body to reconsider its decision. In fact, he had also requested NMC chairman Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma to allow admissions for the 2020-21 session and assured him that the state government is committed to fulfilling all academic and infrastructural requirements as per the NMC norms by November 30^th , 2020. However, the commission hadn't budged and didn't allow fresh admission in the last session.

Also Read: NMC holds MBBS Admissions At 3 Jharkhand Medical Colleges

However, the Phulo Jhano Medical College in Dumka got permission to admit 100 students from this academic year by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), operative under NMC.

The NMC order for this renewal of permission, issued on September 30, stated, "The approval for admission of 100 students in Dumka medical college is for one academic year — 2021 -22 — only. Any violation of it in matter of the admission beyond this academic year will be treated as irregular and action under NMC act and regulations will be initiated."

Following this, the State Government, in a recent notification has announced about the upcoming recruitment of at least 86 professors and 83 assistant professors in five medical colleges, three of which recently were denied recognition from NMC, adds the Telegraph India.

The daily adds that the State Health and Family Welfare Department has issued a notification for recruiting teaching faculties in Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital-Dhanbad, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital-Jamshedpur, Phulo Janho Medical College- Dumka, Medinirai Medical College- Palamau, and Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College-Hazaribagh.

It has been notified by the Government that these posts, recruited on a contractual basis for two years, will be filled in through a walk-in interview and the eligibility criteria for these positions have been set following the requirements decided by the Medical Council of India (MCI), now NMC. The contracts of these teachers would be renewed on the basis of their performance, further adds the daily.

As per the notification, the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi has been set as the destination for the Walk-in-Interview for the 169 posts and it would be held on October 9 and October 10. These vacancies have been made for around 23 departments and the posts include reservation for Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste and Backward Caste categories as per the government norms.

The daily further adds that these contractual faculties will be paid Rs 2.5 lakh (for Professors), and Rs 2 lakh (for assistant professors) on a monthly basis. However, the Government hasn't offered any other monetary benefits for these faculties.