Bhubaneswar, March 19: The three government-run medical colleges of the state are reeling from acute shortage of teaching staff.

At present, of the 892 sanctioned posts, 300 are lying vacant at SCB Medical College in Cuttack, MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur and Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Medical College in Burla. This was revealed during a discussion in the Assembly on the status of medical education in the state.

While 100 of the 285 sanctioned posts are unfilled at SCB, the vacancy position at VSS is 101 out of 246 posts.

Authorities of MKCG did not disclose the overall vacancy figures but said that 32 of the 36 teaching posts in the nine super-specialty departments were unoccupied at the moment.

Interestingly, four lecturers are on authorised leave while two others have not joined work at the Berhampur college.

The Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) had issued two advertisements in August 2010 and December 2011 inviting applications for 120 and 73 posts of assistant professors, respectively.

On December 2, 2011, Orissa High Court had even directed the OPSC to conduct interviews within 18 days for the 120 posts advertised in August 2010. However, no selection process has been followed till date.

Recently, on February 21 this year, the court also rejected the affidavit filed by principal secretary of health and family welfare in connection with a public interest litigation that urged for intervention against failure to provide basic infrastructure, doctors and staff in VSS. The court said the affidavit “was not only evasive and incomplete, but it also presented false information”.

Though health and family welfare minister Damodar Rout has assured that the unoccupied faculty positions would be filled up at the earliest, students at these medical colleges are desperate for better times.

They alleged that while private colleges were trying to rope in the best of faculty, government colleges, which are considered to be of better standard, don’t have the required infrastructure and staff to keep up their image.

“Our college has mostly old teachers who stick to old books and old style of teaching. Since we follow computer-assisted learning now, that gap becomes all the more pronounced. We definitely need more number of teachers, but preferably those who are more qualified and are aware of the present medical situation,” said a student of VSS on the condition of anonymity.

Many fear that the situation would take a turn for the worse if the posts were not filled up urgently, especially since the government has decided to increase the intake capacity in the three colleges from 150 to 250.

“We get admission into state-run medical colleges through sheer merit but we find it very discouraging that the government is not serious about providing quality facilities and faculty members,” said a medical student of SCB.