AIIMS Jodhpur Faces Shortage of Faculty

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan has failed to attract faculty. AIIMS Jodhpur is one of the 6 new AIIMs which were set up the central government of India. The other five AIIMS had been set up in Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh.

The ministry of health and family welfare had initially sanctioned 305 posts for the positions of professors and assistant professor at AIIMS, Jodhpur. But so far, only 99 posts have been filled. Also, out of the 327 senior resident faculty posts, 105 have been filled so far and out of 301 junior resident faculty positions, only 84.

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According to sources, the reason for AIIMS Jodhpur's failure to attract faculty is the lack of resources and infrastructure. Also, Jodhpur is further not connected to any major city by air transport, which is also one of the major reasons why the medical institute has not been able to fill the vacant faculty positions.

Manish Srivastava, the administrative officer of the medical institute informed that the selection process for faculty members ended recently. The matter with regard to filling positions has been shared with the ministry of health and family welfare. He further added that the positions left to be filled will be cleared after getting an approval from the ministry. AIIMS officials said that recruitment is mainly done on a need basis, keeping in mind additional services and facilities that are being planned at the hospital. Vacant faculty posts are being advertised regularly by the officials of the institute.

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On the other hand, a number of steps are being taken to attract a good pool of faculty. An official revealed that many positions of senior and junior resident faculty have been advertised regularly. He informed that a separate Standing Selection Committee (SSC) has been initiated and formed for the same purpose.

AIIMS officials expressed their willingness to invite senior professors and informed that the upper age limit has been raised to 58 years as against the earlier proposed 50 years. Also, the faculty is appointed on a contract basis in a stop-gap arrangement. The ratio of teachers to students has also been revised from 1:1 to 1:2 for all MS/MD degree courses and 1:1 to 1:3 in subjects like medical oncology, anaesthesiology, radiotherapy, surgical oncology, psychiatry and forensic medicine.