Govt initiates raft of measures to shore up medical infrastructure

Hans India

14 hours ago

Hyderabad: In an effort to tackle the shortage of teaching faculty in government medical colleges, the government has initiated several measures, including taking up recruitments and also improving infrastructure.
According to the officials, just two days ago, the Medical and Health Services Recruitment Board issued a notification to fill 607 assistant professor posts. The Finance Department approved the recruitment of an additional 714 posts, which will be filled shortly. Since direct recruitment for Associate Professor, Professor, and Additional DME posts was not permissible, these positions are being filled through promotions. To enable this, the government has granted panel year relaxation, according to Medical Education officials.
The government has begun promoting around 231 Assistant Professors as Associate Professors. Promotions have been granted to 308 Associate Professors, elevating them to Professor positions. This move will address shortages of Professors and Heads of Departments across colleges.
Additionally, 44 eligible senior professors have been promoted as Additional Directors of Medical Education. These promotions will result in the appointment of regular Principals in all 34 government medical colleges and regular Superintendents in teaching hospitals.
Regarding the Infrastructure, by 2021, Telangana had only nine medical colleges. The then government established eight colleges in 2022 and another nine in 2023. In 2024, GOs were issued for setting up 8 more colleges. However, in 2022 and 2023, 17 colleges were started without dedicated college buildings, hostel buildings, or affiliated hospitals. The previous government obtained approvals from the NMC by showcasing rented buildings and warehouses as colleges, despite lacking even basic facilities. As a result, the sudden increase in colleges from nine to 34 led to severe shortages of faculty and essential infrastructure.
To overcome these challenges and systematically develop the colleges and teaching hospitals, the present government laid out a clear roadmap. Through GO 276, Medical College Monitoring Committees (MCMCs) were constituted.
These committees are visiting all colleges to assess and report on multiple aspects to the government, including infrastructure, human resources, academic and curriculum readiness, student welfare and amenities, operational and financial aspects, digital systems and IT Infrastructure. Based on their reports, the government is taking steps to develop each college and hospital.
On the new hostels and reconstruction of Osmania, Raja Narsimha said that for a decade, junior doctors and faculty fought for the construction of a new Osmania Hospital. Fulfilling this long-standing aspiration, the government initiated the construction of the new Osmania Hospital at Goshamahal. In addition, modern hostel buildings worth approximately Rs 127 crore were being built with state-of-the-art facilities for Osmania and Gandhi Medical College students. In all these ways, the government under Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Minister Damodar Raja Narsimha is working to honour the aspirations of doctors and fulfill their goals, said a press release issued here on Sunday.
Earlier, the Government has decided to continue the services of 16,448 posts under the DME for another one year, which avoids staffing gaps until regular recruitment happens. As per this GO the government has given approval for the continuation of 16,448 posts under the Director of Medical Education (DME) for one more year from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.
The posts include 4,772 Contract posts, 8,615 Outsourcing posts, 3,056 Honorarium posts, 5 MTS (Multi-tasking staff). These posts cover all govt medical colleges, teaching hospitals, nursing and dental colleges across Telangana. It includes faculty (Professors, SRs), doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, DEOs, Class-IV staff and many support roles. All existing contracts will be renewed and new agreements signed as per norms.