AIIMS, PGIMER Chandigarh faced with faculty crunch

India's two leading government hospitals, AIIMS in national capital and PGIMER in Chandigarh, are facing shortage of faculty, hampering research and education work.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today told Rajya Sabha that 329 posts of faculty are lying vacant in AIIMS while it stood at 125 in PGI.
MP HK Dua had sought information about the vacancies in leading government hospitals and medical institutions and steps being taken to meet the shortage.
Azad said as many as 362 posts were lying vacant in teaching cadres in Central Health Services while the similar numbers for non-teaching cadre and general duty medical officers were 130 and 522 respectively.

"Selection process to fill up 103 vacant posts in AIIMS was started in 2012 and 99 candidates have joined as faculty members. Further 138 posts of assistant professor have been advertised in 2012... 40 faculty members of different specialities have been recruited by PGIMER," he said in a written reply.