Hyderabad: Teaching staff crunch ailing medical, veterinary colleges

Hyderabad : The health department in Telangana is facing a challenging situation with a shortage of staff for the new medical and veterinary colleges. Although the infrastructure is available, there is a dearth of professors in the colleges, which officials fear could lead to adverse reports from the Medical Council if the issue is not addressed.

Since the formation of Telangana, the State government has set up medical colleges in Mahabubnagar, Siddipet, Nalgonda, and Suryapet. In 2022-23, the government set up eight new medical colleges in districts like Sangareddy, Mancherial, Jagityal, Wanaparthy, Kothagudem, Nagarkurnool, Mahabubnagar, and Ramagundam. The government is proposing to start nine more medical colleges this year, in Nirmal, Asifabad, Bhoopalpally, Jangaon, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, Sircilla, and Vikarabad. Six colleges have already received permission from the National Medical Council, and the remaining nine will soon receive the same.

However, the health department authorities are facing problems with the appointment of superintendents, principals, and other staff members. Although the retirement age of teaching staff has been increased to 65, the retirement age of superintendents and the additional director post of medical education is 61 years. The Medical Council amended the rule by relaxing the retirement age up to 70 years after noticing the shortage of staff and to meet the eligibility criteria. According to the council, while making appointments of professors, superintendents, deans, and director posts for MBBS or PG medical education, the maximum age can be 70 years, and those appointed should have at least 10 years of experience as professors or assistant professors.

The PV Narasimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University, started in Siddipet on Sunday by the Ministers T Harish Rao and Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav, also lacks staff. The university has the entire infrastructure, but there are no professors to teach. Although the bill pertaining to increasing the retirement age was not given assent by the governor, the department would send the file again, following the new guidelines of the NMC. The department would bring the amended bill in the assembly for passage and send it to the governor.