Mumbai: Maharashtra’s 10 newly minted medical college hospitals are up and running—but at a cost. To meet the National Medical Commission‘s (NMC) staffing requirements for initial approvals, 200 doctors were transferred on a “loan basis” from established govt hospitals, leaving those institutions short of their expertise. While some doctors returned to their original posts after the inspections, many remain at the new colleges as the state only recently commenced the recruitment process.
The issue came to light through an RTI request filed by a city doctor, a former student of J J Hospital, asking for a list of doctors sent on a loan basis for NMC inspection to new hospitals. These hospitals — in Mumbai, Nashik, Jalna, Amravati, Gadchiroli, Buldhana, Washim, Bhandara, Hingoli and Ambernath —were virtually inaugurated PM Modi last Oct.
Officials from the DMER said these transfers were carried out only in cases of surplus staff. “For instance, if there were two professors for a subject, one was sent on loan,” said a senior DMER official. “This was done to get the new medical colleges operational as quickly as possible. Recruitment takes time, as several factors have to be considered.”
Just a year earlier, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) apologised to the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court for transferring 33 faculty members in a similar manner to the then-upcoming hospital in Parbhani prior to an inspection by the NMC.
The response to an RTI query revealed that in Mumbai alone, 56 doctors from JJ Hospital were, on paper, shown as working at the newly established Government Medical College, which was formed by merging G T Hospital and Cama Hospital.
“We were posted there for six months on paper but continued working at JJ since the new college was yet to be formed. As soon as the inspection was completed, we were sent back,” said a doctor from JJ who was part of the transfer.
After GMC Mumbai began functioning, some faculty members from established hospitals were promoted and permanently transferred there. “There is still a deficit, but for now, it’s just enough to keep the medical college running. Some doctors have been hired on a contractual basis to fill in,” said a doctor from GT Hospital.
DMER officials have assured that doctors currently stationed at the new institutions will return to their original hospitals once fresh recruitment is completed. Data on how many have already returned was unavailable. However, some warn this pattern is not new. “This happened in the mid-2000s with established hospitals. Recruitment didn’t happen for years and the same doctors were moved around. The biggest loss is felt by hospitals where these doctors are pulled from as expertise there is drained away,” said the RTI applicant.
Dr Pratik Debaje, president of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) at GMC Nagpur, echoed these concerns. He said hospitals from which senior doctors are sent on a loan basis suffer long-term consequences. “When postgraduate guides are reduced, academics are hampered. Medical college hospitals are not limited to lectures or classrooms,” Dr Debaje said.
