IMA president Rajiv Ranjan Prasad and Bihar Rajya Medical Teachers’ Association president Arjun Singh at the news meet in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

The state chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday reiterated its demand of regularising the services of contract teachers at the medical colleges of Bihar.

The members said healthcare in the state cannot be improved unless the government took an initiative in the matter soon. At present, there are 235 contract teachers in the medical colleges.

“The Patna High Court in 2011 had directed the health department to consider the case of contract teachers and regularise their services make them regular but the state government opted to appeal against it and filed a review petition in the court. The IMA state chapter demands the government to appoint teachers on a regular basis as soon as possible considering the scarcity of teachers in the state-run medical colleges,” said Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, president, state chapter of IMA.

Speaking at the IMA Hall, Prasad also focused on the delay in promotion of teachers at the medical colleges. “There are 100 associate professors, who have been working in the same post for several years without any promotion. The delay is a disturbing fact. It brings down the morale of the teachers,” he said. According to rules of the Medical Council of India, it takes nine years for an assistant professor to become professor. But Prasad said faculty members have been working on the post of assistant professor for at least 15 years.

“Many of the teachers denied promotion for years have joined hospitals such as AIIMS Patna. Some have taken up the post of professor, while some of them have been made head of department. It proves they are eligible for promotion. The government must address the delay and ensure a time-bound promotion of the teachers in the government medical colleges,” he added. Dr Arjun Singh, a member of the IMA, Bihar, emphasised on the need to improve the infrastructure in the government medical colleges.

Singh, the head of department, orthopaedics, Patna Medical College and Hospital, said: “Scarcity of teachers is not the only problem plaguing the state-run medical colleges at present. The infrastructure also needs to be improved. It is a shame that Patna Medical College and Hospital has not been able to procure an MRI machine in the past 20 years. The other state-run medical colleges also do not have the necessary machines. The government must address this problem.”