State govt set to fill vacant deans’ posts

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has restarted the process of recruiting deans in government medical colleges as there are seven vacant posts across several such colleges in the state.

Dr Praveen Shingare, director of the Directorate Medical Education and Research (DMER), said, “Due to the unavailability of a dean, many important decisions related to the hospital are pending.”

A dean of the hospital  addresses issues such as the influx of people, shortage of medicines, lack of medical services and non-availability of beds, among other things. They also take important decisions for the betterment of hospitals, which automatically results in securing good facilities for poor patients who want to opt for treatment based on the latest technology.

The posts have been handed over to other doctors as acting dean of the institution.

Apart from the city’s JJ Hospital, government medical colleges at Jalgaon, Gondia, Akola, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Ambejogai are currently functioning without a dean. These posts have been lying vacant since one-and-half-year. Asked about this, a Directorate of Health Services officer said, “The process was initiated to fill the vacant posts a few years ago, but it was stopped.”

Usually, after a promotion or retirement, the vacant post has to be filled within six years, but the state did not take any efforts to fill them.

Dr Shingare said, “The government had stopped the recruitment process a few years ago. Few doctors were given the charge of acting dean.”