1 in 3 faculty posts vacant across AIIMS; over 17,000 Non-Faculty Posts Also Unfilled | India News
New Delhi: Nearly one in every three faculty posts across India’s premier All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is vacant, the Center told the Rajya Sabha, revealing major staffing gaps in both old and newly established institutions.In a written reply to a question by Shri Golla Baburao, Minister of State for Health Shri Prataprao Yadav gave institute-wise details of sanctioned, filled and vacant posts across the 20 operational AIIMS.The data shows a substantial faculty shortage nationwide. At the country’s flagship institute AIIMS New Delhi, 446 of the 1,306 sanctioned faculty posts are vacant. There are 184 vacancies in Jodhpur, 138 in Mangalagiri, 135 in Nagpur, 134 in Kalyani and 126 in Rishikesh.New institutes seem particularly stressed. AIIMS Madurai has only 70 faculty members against sanctioned strength of 183, leaving 113 posts vacant. There are 105 vacancies in Rajkot, 98 in Rae Bareli and 96 in Gorakhpur.Shortages are more pronounced in non-faculty positions, including nursing staff, technicians, administrative staff and support services essential to hospital work. Across the 20 AIIMS, 17,205 non-faculty posts are lying vacant.AIIMS New Delhi alone has 2,542 non-faculty vacancies. There are 1,144 unfilled posts in Rishikesh, 1,132 in Patna, 1,069 in Raipur, 1,026 in Bhubaneswar and 1,050 unfilled posts in Kalyani. At AIIMS Madurai, only 40 of the 911 sanctioned non-faculty posts have been filled, leaving 871 vacancies.The ministry said that post creation and recruitment is a continuous process. Each AIIMS has a Standing Selection Committee for faculty recruitment under its own Act.To fill the vacancy, the government has allowed the engagement of retired teachers up to the age of 70 years on contract in the new AIIMS. A visiting faculty scheme has been introduced to bring in professors from other institutions for teaching purposes. Recruitment of nursing officers is conducted through the Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test (NORCET), while Group B and C non-faculty posts are filled through a Common Recruitment Test (CRE). Junior and senior residents are selected twice a year through INI-CET and INI-SS examinations.This release comes at a time when AIIMS institutions are expanding rapidly, increasing patient load, academic seats and super-specialty services. The scale of vacancies raises concerns about whether staffing levels are keeping pace with infrastructure growth and growing demand for tertiary healthcare.
