70 Faculty Posts Vacant: AIIMS Jammu invites J&K doctors to return from abroad

Jammu: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jammu has successfully selected and appointed 112 faculty members, with approximately 70 positions remaining vacant. The initial recruitment drive for 183 posts received 1,400 applications, out of which 700 candidates were shortlisted for interviews. Among them, only 74 meritorious, qualified, and competent candidates were selected.

Dr Shakti Kumar Gupta, Executive Director and CEO of AIIMS Jammu shared this information while discussing the human resource and faculty recruitment efforts. He said that the process of filling up the remaining 183 sanctioned posts is still in progress.

“Till date, we have selected and appointed 112 faculty members. Around 70 positions are still vacant. In response to our first notification for 183 posts, we received 1,400 applications. Of the applicants, 700 were shortlisted for interviews. Out of them all, we picked only 74 candidates who were the most meritorious and the most qualified and competent. It’s a totally clean and transparent system here. We immediately display the marks on our monitors, announce the results and issue the appointment letters. We haven’t received a single complaint to date”, said, Dr Gupta.

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As AIIMS Jammu continues its recruitment drive, the administration is also looking for Indian doctors working abroad. For this, Dr Gupta appealed to J&K domicile doctors working abroad to return here by inviting them to partner with the institute's capacity building, training and recruitment. He said that AIIMS Jammu was immediately in need of some very qualified and experienced oncologists.

Highlighting the institute's current need for qualified and experienced oncologists, Dr Gupta told The News Now, “I have noticed that 250 of our doctors are currently settled or working in different countries overseas. I request them all to return and help us make AIIMS Jammu a unique centre of excellence. For those who can’t return for good, we offer reimbursement of their air tickets. We will provide them the best boarding and lodging if they extend their helping hand to us."

Apart from faculty recruitment, AIIMS Jammu is also advancing its medical education programs. Currently, 336 students of 5 different batches are pursuing MBBS at the institute. While 50 of them have been picked up for the first batch in 2020, 62 each have been admitted in 2021, 2022 and 2023. For the 2024 batch, 100 students have been given admission.

Simultaneously, AIIMS Jammu has also started its own College of Nursing. Currently, 60 students are taking training in B Sc Nursing.

“We are also starting PG in Nursing in the next 6 months. We will be taking 45 students for PG. Thereafter, we will be launching our Ph D programmes in Nursing in coordination and mentorship of AIIMS New Delhi. We have already started MCh in Paediatric Surgery. Soon we are going to start MCh and D.M programmes in different super specialties. We have 150 PG seats," Dr Gupta added.

Talking about the seamless admission system for patients, Dr Neelam Kotwal, Assistant Professor of Hospital Administration at AIIMS Jammu said, "There will be absolutely no queues of patients and their attendants. We have developed and introduced an internet and GPS-linked online system that will, on request, generate a particular QR (Quick Response Code) and guide you to all concerned windows, OPD chambers, Operations Theatres, laboratories and other facilities. Your number will be automatically displayed on the electronic monitors and you will reach the concerned doctor or technician precisely at your turn."

Dr Kotwal along with his colleague Dr Aattiqa demonstrated how the QR code would lead a patient or an attendant to wherever he is required to reach. “Once generated on your smartphone, it will guide you in the required directions horizontally and vertically. In addition to that. Specific colour bars have been laid like the ones you experience at a Metro train station. It’s a totally seamless and queue-less system”, Dr Kotwal asserted.

Further, Dr Shakti Kumar Gupta, said, "I have introduced all solutions after having witnessed different problems during my over 30-year tenure in the Hospital Administration Department of AIIMS New Delhi. In Delhi and other medical institutes, there’s still a huge scramble. Patients and attendants fall in queues at 4:00 a.m. to get a turn for OPD at 10:00 a.m. There’s no such system at AIIMS Jammu. You can book your slot right from your home and reach a point at your time."

“Some 1,000 to 1,200 patients visit AIIMS Jammu every day. Once the hospital will become 100% functional with all services, we are expecting 2,500 to 3,000 patients daily. Most of them will be coming from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and the UT of Ladakh besides the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. We have put in place a very good referral system. Some of the patients will come directly through our App. Some will come through our Ayush triage”, Dr Gupta added.

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