ENT Department of medical college running with only one professor

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 28

The ENT Department of Government Medical College here is virtually on the way to de-recognition by the Medical Council of India as all faculty positions in it except one are lying vacant at present. The department has two sanctioned posts of professor, two of associate professor and two of assistant professor.

However, except for one post of professor, all remaining sanctioned posts are lying vacant. In the absence of faculty members while the education of medical students is suffering, medical facilities for poor patients coming to the two ENT units are also affected.

While one of the two units is lying shut ever since the professor of ENT, Dr Jagdeepak Singh, retired two months ago, the second one is also managed by only one professor. Sources in Government Medical College stated that the government has given an extension to Dr Jagdeepak Singh but he has not joined so far. The sources close to him stated it was likely he would not be joining the college again.

While shortage of faculty members is a common problem in all departments of the college, the ENT Department is the most affected. A faculty member said, “The wrong polices of the government in not holding regular department promotion-committee meetings has resulted in the present crisis. If the DPC meetings had been regular, it could have helped in filling the posts at the bottom.”

A patient at the hospital said, “Government hospitals, despite their all faults, are still the place where a poor person can get treatment. However, if the government is not filling these posts, the poor would have no place to go to.” The patients have demanded that the government should look into the problem and make appointments as soon as possible.