Vacant Posts, Unwilling Professors! AP GMCs in crisis as 32 percent eligible Doctors Decline Promotions

Concerned by this alarming trend, Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav has directed the Special Chief Secretary to implement measures to address faculty shortages and encourage doctors to take up promotions.

According to a report by The New Indian Express, in a recent promotion exercise, 28 Associate Professors from 12 clinical and non-clinical departments were invited for counselling. However, only 19 accepted promotions, while nine declined due to unfavourable college locations. Despite their refusal, all nine were still promoted based on vacancies, although they are unlikely to join.

This crisis is part of a larger faculty shortage in the state’s medical education sector. Earlier reports from the  Medical Dialogues team indicate that over 8,000 positions, including 17 professor-level posts, remain vacant in government medical colleges. The shortage extends beyond rural areas, affecting urban institutions as well. For instance, Government General Hospital in Vijayawada has around 46 vacant posts, while Guntur Medical College faces a shortage of about 65 positions.

Also Read: AP to fill 8000 vacant posts in Govt Medical Colleges

As per The Hindu, the latest round of promotions included four vacancies in General Surgery and Psychiatry, three each in General Medicine, Pediatrics, and Anesthesia, two each in Orthopedics, Pulmonary Medicine, Radiology, and Community Medicine, and one vacancy each in ENT, Anatomy, and Pharmacology.

To qualify for promotion to Professor, Associate Professors must have at least three years of teaching experience and two research publications in reputed medical journals.

Yadav pointed to a policy change as a key reason behind the refusals, noting that candidates can now decline promotions indefinitely, whereas earlier, they were limited to two refusals. Concerned about the growing faculty shortage, he directed the Special Chief Secretary to devise a plan to fill the vacancies. He stressed that the unwillingness of doctors to accept postings in less-preferred locations has deepened the crisis, making it necessary to introduce policy reforms that not only incentivize promotions but also, if required, enforce mandatory acceptance to maintain adequate staffing levels, reports TNIE.