Patient care is affected; the few Associate Professors are sent on deputation to other colleges to fulfil the Medical Council of India (MCI) requirement whenever its team makes an inspection; professor of one medical college approves dissertation work of M.Ch. or DM student of another college since the latter does not have a professor even as one wonders what he has learnt during the course without having a professor to guide him; there is also the possibility of his or her degree not being recognised by MCI since, after slogging out for three years, the course is not done under the guidance of a regular professor. This threat is imminent as the super speciality examinations are just one month away. This has been the situation prevailing in the case of super speciality courses in the Government hospitals/medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh for the last many years.
There are no professors in many of the super specialty departments in most of the colleges and the vacancies continued because the Assistant Professors are not promoted to the next level of Associate Professor to become a Professor later on. Many Assistant Professors have put in more than the required number of years of service needed to be promoted as Professors but remained at the entry level cadre.
The problem has cropped up because there are not many Associate Professor posts, through which only the Assistant Professors can become Professors.
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Super speciality courses like urology, neurology, nephrology, neuro surgery, endocrinology, gastroenterology, etc. were introduced in the government medical colleges but the doctors who have joined them after doing the strenuous courses of DM or M.Ch. found the procedure, followed by the Government after the MCI has introduced guidelines regarding promotions, detrimental.
For example, M.Ch. in neuro surgery was introduced in six medical colleges in the State and at present the professor post is vacant in all but the Andhra Medical College. There are 17 Assistant Professors in the five colleges, who have put in service ranging from eight to 15 years and there is only one post of Associate Professor.
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The MCI introduced during 2006-07 a new cadre of Associate Professor and also made it mandatory that an Assistant Professor must have teaching experience of nine years, five years as Assistant Professor and four years as Associate Professor, to become a Professor. Each must have two scientific publications, each as an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor.
Languishing for long
At that time, the then government created only one Associate Professor post. Unless an Assistant Professor is promoted as Associate Professor and completes four years of teaching, the other Assistant Professors have to wait for years to get promoted.
The Assistant Professors who are languishing in that cadre for a long time are seeking the government to accord notional promotions to the eligible Assistant Professors as Professors and create adequate number of posts of Associate Professors in future as a permanent measure.
The notional promotions were accorded in 2008 through a G.O., the Assistant0 Professors recalled.