The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) fears around 40 percent of the state-run medical colleges in the state run the risk of losing the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) recognition owing to a shortage in the number of professors and assistant professors. On Friday, May 26, three state-run medical colleges lost the NMC recognition due to issues over Aadhaar-based biometric attendance and live CCTV footage. The loss of recognition suffered by these colleges resulted in reduction of 500 medical seats in Tamil Nadu. There are 38 state-run medical colleges in the state.
The NMC had made it mandatory for all medical colleges to implement Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS), install CCTV cameras and share live videos with the Command and Control Centre of the Commission. The loss of NMC recognition will affect the admission prospects of MBBS aspirants in the state as the number of medical seats would be further reduced. The biometric attendance system and live video feeds are used to record the attendance of faculties, senior residents and tutors of medical colleges and to ensure that institutions which lack enough human resource for teaching are not granted recognition.
According to the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA), 450 posts for professors and 550 posts for associate professors are vacant across medical colleges in the state. Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) chief Anbumani Ramadoss, commenting on Twitter, said that the shortage of staff might result in ten medical colleges losing recognition and that the vacant posts are a result of not holding promotion counselling over the last two years. “While the Madras High Court had imposed an interim stay on the promotion consultation three months ago, no action has been taken to lift it. If the ban is lifted and the consultation is held immediately, there are more than a thousand doctors eligible for promotion as medical professors and associate professors,” he said.
மேலும் 10 மருத்துவக் கல்லூரிகளின் ஏற்பளிப்பு ரத்து செய்யப்படும் ஆபத்து: மருத்துவப் பேராசிரியர் காலியிடங்களை உடனடியாக நிரப்ப வேண்டும்!
— Dr S RAMADOSS (@drramadoss) May 28, 2023
தமிழ்நாட்டில் சென்னை ஸ்டான்லி மருத்துவக் கல்லூரி, திருச்சி கி.ஆ.பெ விசுவநாதம் மருத்துவக் கல்லூரி, தருமபுரி அரசு மருத்துவக் கல்லூரி ஆகிய…
The Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors, in a February 2023 statement, had said several associate professors and assistant professors are eligible for promotion. According to the committee, more than 200 doctors, who are working as associate professors, are qualified to be promoted as professors as they have completed three years in their respective posts as per NMC’s mandate.
In 2023, around 1.47 lakh medical aspirants attempted the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET) for 5,275 state-run medical college seats. However, after three colleges, namely, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, Chennai, KAP Viswanathan Government Medical College in Trichy, and Government Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital, Dharmapuri, lost NMC recognition, the state now has 4,775 seats available.
The state government had inaugurated 11 new medical college hospitals in the state in 2022. Dr Shanthi AR, secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE), said, “This acute shortage of professors and assistant professors should be tackled immediately. The government should allow for online counselling for promotions to start. That itself might solve the problem.”
DASE is also critical of the NMC for its insistence on biometric attendance. “Use of biometric attendance systems in large government medical colleges like Stanley create various practical problems,” said a DASE statement. Doctors in such hospitals have to undertake multiple duties including running hospitals, various departments, attending courts and to VIPs. “The NMC acted mechanically without taking such issues into consideration,” it said.