|
| Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Telegraph picture |
Barely 12 days remain for the MBBS course to start at Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Sciences but a faculty crunch has necessitated an urgent second round of appointments for the institution.
Sources said five of the 24 medical teachers selected by a board constituted by the health ministry have not joined Patna AIIMS, where 50 students selected through an all-India pre-medical test would join first-year classes on September 25.
Institute director Dr G.K. Singh, however, emphasised that the shortage was “not major” and would not hamper the academic programme in the first year.
But sources reasoned that second-year classes would be jeopardised unless more faculty members are recruited on an urgent basis.
“Five of the selected teachers have not joined the institution this year because they were either not happy with their placement in Patna AIIMS or were not released from the institutions they are associated with. However, I do not think it would hamper studies for first-year students as teachers needed for all basic medical science courses are already here. Their numbers is a problem but it is still manageable,” said Singh.
He added: “We can manage well with our current strength of teachers, as they are all bright minds in their respective fields.”
Teachers in the ranks of professor, additional professor, associate professor and assistant professor had been selected for anatomy, community and family medicine, physiology and biochemistry subjects that are taught in the first year of MBBS.
Anatomy and physiology would have sufficient teachers, while the other two subjects would face a shortage of faculty. In July, the Centre notified the names of the medical teachers following which 24 prominent doctors from institutes across the country and abroad were expected to join by the first week of September. Of 19, mostly from Banaras Hindu University, agreed to serve at the new medical college.
| 
