Upto 90 percent faculty posts vacant in MP medical colleges, students attending online classes: Report
Faculty Shortage
Satna: The government medical colleges across Madhya Pradesh are facing a severe faculty shortage. Bhaskar has reported that only seven out of nineteen government medical colleges have enough faculty to teach the students properly, and the remaining institutes suffer from a severe shortage of medical teachers.
Several of the new and even older colleges are facing this issue, struggling to provide the basic facilities required for the training of future doctors. This situation is reportedly forcing students to often learn online due to absent teachers and inadequate infrastructure.
As per the latest media report by Bhaskar, in old medical colleges like those located in Sagar and Chhindwara, almost 50% of the teaching posts are vacant. In the case of new medical colleges such as those located in Sheopur and Singrauli, more than 90% of the faculty positions remain unfilled. Even where buildings and lecture halls exist, most of the rooms and labs are empty or locked.
Bundelkhand Medical College, Sagar:
Bundelkhand Medical College, Sagar was established in 2007 and has 270 sanctioned posts. Currently, only 136 staff members are present and many crucial positions, including nine professors, 30 associate professors, and the posts of more than 60 assistant professors, are lying vacant.
Most of the labs in this medical college- including the Histology lab- are dusty and unused and some of the high-value equipment worth millions are left without any security.
Only one lecture hall was found in the college where a class was being conducted and the rest of the halls were empty.
Government Medical College Satna:
GMC Satna has 450 MBBS students, and the college started operating in 2023. It is linked to the District Hospital located around 8 km away. Therefore, the students without personal transport spend 2-3 hours daily commuting and incur Rs 150-200 extra per day. Even though there are 170 sanctioned posts in the college, 80 of them, including the posts of professors and assistant professors, remain vacant. Even though the college has lecture halls, they are unused due to faculty shortage.
Government Medical College, Singrauli:
The situation is no better at Singrauli Government Medical College. The college, which admitted more than 90 MBBS students this year, have been conducting classes mostly online due to absent faculty.
Among the 116 sanctioned posts at the medical college, only 12 staff members are appointed. The infrastructure of the institute is incomplete, and the foundation courses were conducted online. According to experts, new medical college often borrow faculty from older colleges just to meet the approval requirements set by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
Government Medical College, Sheopur:
The situation of the Government Medical College in Sheopur is probably worst as only 13 out of 116 sanctioned posts are filled. Due to the classes not being started, students have returned home.
The hostels are closed, while the labs, including anatomy labs with cadavers, are not yet functional. There is furniture for only a few students at the facility and the overall campus activity is minimal.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that, recently, the nationwide survey of medical colleges conducted by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) revealed poor infrastructure in both government and private medical colleges. 89.4% of the doctors and medical students who participated in the survey felt that poor infrastructure directly affects the quality of medical education.
In a release, FAIMA had emphasized the need for urgent reforms, including improved infrastructure, adequate staffing, reduction of clerical burdens, timely stipends, and mandatory skills lab facilities in every medical college.
