With 23 per cent seats for the post of senior resident doctors in the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe and OBC categories lying vacant at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) this year, the authorities are planning a special recruitment drive.
Students from backward classes, who have scored less than 33 per cent marks, will be recruited.According to the Supreme Court's order of July 18, 2013, "There can be no reservation in appointment for faculty posts in specialty and super-specialty courses in medical colleges."Senior resident doctors are appointed on a temporary basis for three years and are eligible to apply for the post of assistant professor after completing this three-year course.
AIIMS officials said the appointments are made on the basis of interview and a written test, if necessary.After the apex court's verdict, most backward class students had been desisting from getting admissions to the prestigious institute, despite cut-off marks for reserved category being lowered to 33 per cent. Officials said this was primarily because of restrictions from availing benefits of reservation. According to AIIMS authorities, there are 300 seats for the reserved category for the post of senior resident doctors in the non-academic field, of which 70 are lying vacant.
The total number of seats for both general and reserved categories for senior resident doctors is 750. A senior official of the AIIMS said, "We have to fill up the seats by September. We will start our special recruitment drive for the junior resident doctors August 26 onwards," he added. Dr Raksh Yadav, dean of AIIMS admitted on their plans to go for the recruitment drive. Expressing dissatisfaction over the issue, a member of the SC/ST student's union of AIIMS said, "After the Supreme Court's verdict, not only for senior resident doctors' posts, but in coming days there will be vacancies in other posts too."