NMC should make it easier for medical students to report ghost faculty, zero attendance: Parliamentary Panel
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New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee on Health recently advised the National Medical Commission (NMC) to make it easier for the medical students and their parents to report ghost faculty and zero attendance.
In its One Hundred Fifty-Seventh report, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare discussed several issues related to medical education such as infrastructure, faculty issues, and quality control of medical education.
While discussing the problem of faculty shortage across the medical colleges in the country and also the issue of ghost faculty, the panel opined, "NMC should make it easier for students and parents to report ghost faculty and zero attendance."
Noting that the faculty shortage is not only due to genuine shortage of qualified faculty, but also because the available faculty often lacks the inclination to teach at the college level, the Parliamentary Health Panel recommended the Government to strictly enforce the regulations already in place to curb the problem of ghost faculty and zero attendance.
Further, the panel suggested that NMC conducts regular inspections of medical colleges and take action against the colleges that are found violating the regulations. It also referred to the NMC's rules of limiting the appointment of non-medical teachers at medical colleges and opined that the authorities should introduce a transitional period allowing the non-MBBS faculties to continue teaching until enough MBBS-qualified educators become available.
Apart from this, the Health Committee also advised the authorities to streamline and implement an efficient recruitment process to expedite faculty appointments and fill the vacant positions without any delays. The panel, chaired by Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita, presented its report before the Parliament on 9th February 2024.
Indian Medical Colleges have been reeling under a shortage of adequate faculty for a long time. Medical Dialogues had last year reported that 349 out of the total 654 medical colleges across the country got a show cause notice from the Apex Medical regulator NMC for violations of the Minimum Standard Requirements 2020 including a deficiency in having the required faculty numbers.
Last year, in an assessment conducted for the academic year 2022-2023, NMC had unveiled a disconcerting reality within a majority of medical colleges. Those institutes were riddled with ghost faculties and senior residents, coupled with none meeting the mandated 50% attendance requirement.
While discussing the issue, the panel referred to the reply of the Union Health Minister in Rajya Sabha in August 2023, as per which about 5,527 faculty positions in all AIIMS have been sanctioned and around 2,161 seats were lying vacant. AIIMS, New Delhi which is a premier institute also faces severe faculty crunch with almost 347 faculty positions lying vacant and this accounts for almost 28% of the total sanctioned strength, noted the Panel.
Further, the panel pointed out that a recent assessment of 246 medical colleges in 2022-2023 by the UG Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of NMC revealed that no medical college had adequate faculty members or senior residents, and all failed to meet the 50% attendance requirement. The assessment brought to light that most of the colleges had either ghost faculty or senior residents or had yet to employ the required faculty at all. While none of the institutes met the minimum 50% attendance requirement, zero attendance of faculty was common in most of the medical colleges.
Among its multiple recommendations to tackle the issue, the Commission suggested streamlining the recruitment process to avoid any significant delays.
"Additionally, streamlining the recruitment process is imperative. The significant delays in the recruitment process must be reduced through the simplification of bureaucratic procedures and the incorporation of technology for quicker application processing and interview scheduling. An efficient recruitment process is necessary to expedite faculty appointments and fill vacant positions without unnecessary delays," the panel mentioned in the report.
It also opined that the Commission should make it easier for parents and students to report ghost faculty and zero attendance. In this regard, the report mentioned, "NMC should make it easier for students and parents to report ghost faculty and zero attendance. Furthermore, the Committee feels that the Government should undertake some essential steps for retaining faculty viz. improved working conditions for faculty members, transparent career progression paths, etc.Clear criteria and milestones for promotions by recognising and rewarding excellence in teaching, research, and clinical work need to be chalked out. Regular performance evaluations are crucial in identifying and addressing concerns promptly."
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