In a long-awaited move, the Uttarakhand Medical Services Selection Board (UKMSSB) would soon start inviting applications for recruitment of the assistant professors in the Government-run medical colleges of the State.
The proposal for the recruitment of 138 permanent faculty members in three government medical colleges of the state has been pending for quite some time with the state administration. The UKMSSB had requested government’s guidance on reservation criteria for these posts.
The additional secretary, medical education, Arunendra Singh Chauhan said that clarification has been issued to the UKMSSB on its questions on reservation. He said that it is now up to the UKMSSB to start the process of recruitment of the assistant professors in the medical colleges.
When contacted, the chairman of the UKMSSB, Dr D S Rawat said that the required clearance from the state government for recruitment of assistant professors has been obtained. He said that some changes in the website of the board are being done to make it conformable for online submission of applications.
He further said that the applications for 138 posts in 24 disciplines would soon be invited.
In Uttarakhand, there are three government medical colleges-the Government Doon Medical College, Medical College Haldwani and Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Medical College Srinagar. In absence of permanent appointments for the past many years, most of the faculty members in these medical colleges have been working on contract. In such a condition, these medical colleges are marred by absenteeism, frequent changes and other problems associated with contractual employees. The appointment of new permanent faculty members in these colleges is expected to bring stability in teaching positions.
However, the open recruitment decision has not gone down well with the assistant professors working on contract in these medical colleges.
“We were appointed after a proper process in which every criterion like reservation was followed.
For more than two years, we have been working hard and we have ensured that the nascent medical college had got the mandatory permission from the Medical Council of India for admission of MBBS students.
At the time of recruitment, we were informed that our services would be regularised with time. But now we have learnt that they are doing open recruitment for permanent posts,’’ said a faculty member of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC).
At GDMC alone, there are about 30 such assistant professors whose services would be terminated once the permanent appointments are done.
These contractual faculty members are now demanding that the government should at least offer them some additional marks in the selection process of permanent faculty members.