452 faculty, over 700 SR, JR posts vacant at AIIMS New Delhi- Parliamentary committee gives recommendations

New Delhi: Taking note of the huge vacancies in faculty, senior, and junior residents posts at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health has recommended that the Department initiate a time-bound recruitment drive with clear milestones.

In its 172nd report, the Department-related Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare expressed concern over the 35% vacancy rate i.e. 452 vacancies in faculty positions. Further, it noted that more than 700 posts of Junior/Senior residents and 2540 non-faculty posts are also lying vacant, which constrains service delivery and strains existing staff.

In this regard, the panel has recommended that the target be to fill at least 85% of the sanctioned posts by fast-tracking advertised vacancies, conducting rolling interview panels, and decentralising selection timelines to avoid protracted offer-to-joining delays.

The parliamentary panel also recommended not to rely continuously on contractual faculty and focus on permanent appointments instead to ensure institutional belongingness and long-term accountability, as contractual arrangements should serve only as temporary stop-gap measures. It also recommended introducing retention incentives tied to hard-to-fill specialties and underserved postings to improve the offer-to-joining ratio.

In response to the panel's query regarding the in-position strength and vacancy of AIIMS, Delhi, the Department informed 452 out of 1306 posts of faculty, 176 out of 1213 posts of Junior Residents (MD/MS), 97 out of 724 Senior Residents (DM/MCh), 44 out of 241 Junior Residents and 433 out of 1183 senior residents, and 2540 out of 13911 non-faculty posts are lying vacant.

The panel also noted that the following efforts have been taken to fill up the vacancies submitted by the Department:

a) Efforts for filling up of faculty posts: 328 posts of Faculty have been advertised on regular basis (265 posts advertised in April 2025 and 63 posts advertised in September 2025) against which interviews and screening of applications respectively are going on.

b) Efforts to fill up JR/SR positions: The posts of JRs/SRs are tenure posts. Recruitment/Admission to these posts are conducted twice a year i.e Jan/July Session. Therefore, the vacant seats are advertised in the subsequent session.

c) Efforts to fill up non-faculty positions: Recruitment for filling up the vacant posts under the mode of Direct recruitment is being done on continuous basis through centralized recruitment examinations such as Common Recruitment Examination (CRE), Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test (NORCET) and Recruitment Examination for Group A (REGA). For filling the posts of Nursing Officer, NORCET exam is held twice a year. AIIMS, New Delhi has started conducting Common Recruitment exam (CRE) also twice a year.

The panel also took note of the details for the last 3 financial years on faculty joined vs. faculty left (resignation/VRS/superannuation, etc.) in AIIMS, New Delhi. It noted that for the financial year 2023-2024, 54 faculty members joined, 24 resigned, and 07 members took VRS/Superannuation. For 2024-2025, 8 faculty members resigned, and 07 took VRS, and for 2025-2026, 10 faculty members resigned and 07 took VRS.

Taking note of such high vacancies in the posts of faculties, JRs/SRs, the health panel noted, "The Committee observes with concern a staggering 35% vacancy rate (452 vacancies) in faculty positions, along with Junior/Senior residents (700+ vacancies), and non-faculty posts (2,540 vacancies) which constrain service delivery and strain existing staff. Most alarmingly, the data reveals that while 32 faculty members resigned or superannuated in the years 2024-25 and 2025-26 (till January 2026), zero new faculty members joined the institute during this period. The Committee believes that this recruitment paralysis severely jeopardizes the academic and clinical standards of India's premier medical institution."

Accordingly, it recommended, "The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Department launch a focused, time-bound recruitment drive with clear milestones, for example, target filling (at least 85%) of sanctioned posts by fast-tracking advertised vacancies, conducting rolling interview panels, and decentralising selection timelines to avoid protracted offer-to-joining delays. The 328 currently advertised faculty positions may be finalised within the first two quarters of FY 2026-27. Furthermore, the Committee is of the view that the persistent reliance on contractual faculty (currently 73 Assistant Professors) must be phased out in favor of permanent appointments to ensure institutional belongingness and long-term accountability, as contractual arrangements should serve only as temporary stop-gap measures. Long-standing contractual incumbents meeting eligibility criteria should be offered a regularisation/absorption pathway."

"The Department should introduce retention incentives tied to hard-to-fill specialties and underserved postings to improve the offer-to-joining ratio," the panel further mentioned in its report.

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