(From left) Shashi Bhushan Kumar, Brajesh Kumar and Vinay Kumar Pandey on the AIIMS-Patna campus on Thursday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Desperation for job, that too in a central government unit, has lured many an under-qualified youth to apply for teachers’ posts at AIIMS-Patna.

Officials at the health hub were left perplexed while scrutinising thousands of applications that poured in for the posts of senior and junior residents.

At least 90 candidates without the mandatory MBBS degree applied for the key posts advertisement for which was brought out by AIIMS-Patna on July 26. The same advertisement (AIIMS/Pat/ 515AB/job outsourcing/2013) also sought tutors/demonstrators and other support staff in 51 different categories.

While 44 non-MBBS degree holders sent applications for the post of junior resident, the hospital received 46 such applications for the post of senior resident. A source in the hospital said that candidates with BA, BPharm, BCom, BTech, Bachelor of Physiotherapy among others might want to apply for the “support staff” posts but erroneously marked it for the “resident” posts.

However, the surge of applications “shocked” the AIIMS-Patna director, G.K. Singh.

“We are in a state of shock now. We are unable to understand what drove them (referring to non-MBBS degree holders) to apply for the post. We had clearly mentioned about the educational qualification required for the posts in the advertisement. May be the non-MBBS degree holders thought it was a matter of prestige to apply for the post of AIIMS-Patna. They can’t get a job but at least they gave it a try just for the sake of trying.”

A well-placed source from AIIMS Patna said that doctors of the premier health hub are also surprised. “Non-MBBS degree holders applying for the posts of junior and senior resident is an irony of sorts. It’s also beyond our imagination why an under-qualified person would lose Rs 1,000 for just buying the application form,” said the source.

Whatever is the reason, candidates with degrees of MA, BCA or even without a graduation degree sent filled-up forms to the recruitment cell of the premier health hub, which also mentioned in the advertisement that the job would be of contract in nature with a consolidate pay package for 11 months.

However, it did not deter one Amit Kumar, BA in economics, to apply for the post of senior resident or even a graduate in mental retardation, Smita Tiwary Ojha. AIIMS-Patna also put up the full list of rejected applications on its website, www.aiimspatna.org.

Director Singh added that it also showed the poor education scenario in the country. “Such is the education scenario that people do not even know that they can apply for which posts. It really hurts.”

“As a corrective measure, we have decided to start communication and spoken English classes for our students so that they do not have to face problem because of poor understanding of English. We had issued the advertisement in English. May be non-MBBS degree holders, who applied for the post, could not understand what was written in the advertisement,” he added.

Another official of AIIMS Patna said: “Actually, youths have a habit of filling up forms without even going through it. This could be one of the reasons why non-MBBS degree holders sent applications.”