All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) across the country are grappling with substantial faculty vacancies, according to data shared by the Union Health Ministry in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week.
The shortages vary across institutions, with AIIMS New Delhi reporting a 34 per cent vacancy rate, followed by 24 per cent in AIIMS Bhopal, 25 per cent in AIIMS Bhubaneswar, 28 per cent in AIIMS Jodhpur, 38 per cent in AIIMS Raipur, 27 per cent in AIIMS Patna, and 39 per cent in AIIMS Rishikesh.
The information was disclosed in response to a question raised by Member of Parliament Sanjeev Arora regarding faculty shortages and healthcare service gaps in AIIMS, The Hindu reports.
Union Health Minister JP Nadda, in his statement, also highlighted faculty shortages in 12 cities where AIIMS institutions are partially operational. These include Mangalagiri (41 per cent vacancy), Nagpur (23 per cent), and Kalyani (39 per cent).
To address the issue, the Minister emphasised that the government has approved the establishment of 22 new AIIMS under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). He noted that filling vacant positions is an ongoing process, and steps are being taken to expedite recruitment.
The government has implemented several measures to streamline hiring, including the centralised Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test (NORCET) conducted by AIIMS Delhi for nursing officer recruitment, and the Common Recruitment Examination (CRE) for Group B and Group C non-faculty positions across AIIMS institutions.
Additionally, the Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET) and the Institute of National Importance Super Speciality (INI-SS) examination are used to select Junior and Senior Residents (Academic) for AIIMS.
However, the minister stressed that the government prioritises quality over speed in recruitment.
“The government does not want to recruit persons for the sake of filling up the posts,” the Minister said at a press conference recently in reply to a question about vacant posts in AIIMS across India.
“The quality of people taken in matters, and we will not compromise on that,’’ the minister said, adding that securing faculty is a slow process.
