MUMBAI, MARCH 22: The Grant Medical College (GMC) at Byculla and its attached hospitals have witnessed a flurry of activity in the last few days ahead of the two-day Medical Council of India (MCI) inspection which began today. With several slots for professors and lecturers lying vacant, sources say the GMC administration has been working overtime to fill up posts on an ad-hoc basis to give an impression of `general well-being'.The MCI conducts regular inspections to check the fitness of colleges to conduct medical courses. This particular inspection at GMC is concentrating solely on departments that deal with subjects taught at the undergraduate level.The college administration has filled at least one post on an ad-hoc basis in almost all of the 16 departments connected to the MBBS course, sources say. Most of the appointments have been made for just 29 days, and mainly to the posts of assistant lecturers.One assistant lecturer joined the Pharmacology department today on a 29-day basis, while anassistant lecturer each joined the Biochemistry and Microbiology departments on same terms.Moreover, a medical officer from the nearby Nagpada Police Hospital was introduced today as an associate professor in the Forensic Medicine Department, sources said. Another 29-day contract was signed just three days back to fill a post in the same department.However, sources at GMC say that even the hurried filling up of posts may fail to paint a picture of good health for GMC. Nine departments in GMC have no professors at all, despite the fact that there is an MCI guideline stating that recognition of any department hinges on availability of full-time professors. The nine departments also include superspeciality departments like Nuerosurgery, Nuerology, Urology and Plastic Surgery, which do not come under the purview of the current MCI inspection.The situation is no better in departments of Forensic Medicine, Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry all undergraduate subjects. In Physiology Department, forinstance, there are six vacant posts of associate professors and five vacancies in the lecturers' post, while in Biochemistry Department, five posts of assistant professors are vacant. In Anatomy Department five posts of assistant professors are vacant, and so are nine posts of lecturers. Among the 12 posts of lecturers in the Pharmacology Department, eight are vacant, with three filled up on an ad-hoc basis.The situation is the same in the Forensic Medicine Department, where the three posts of associate professors were lying vacant, till today. Of the five lecturers required in the department, there are only two. In the Skin and VD Department, there are no professors, with only lecturers running the show.The state government's indifference towards medical teachers is the main reason for the posts lying vacant, sources said. Medical teachers, unlike others, have not been given any pay revision under the Fifth Pay Commission. Not only that, routine transfers and temporary appointments keep professionalsaway from teaching.Meanwhile, Dr A C Mohanty, Dean of the JJ Group of Hospitals, denied that posts of lecturers and professors were being filled to satisfy the MCI. ``All the appointments are routine, and have been carried out over a span of six months, according to the Divisional Selection Board's choice,'' he explained. ``Appointments on an ad-hoc basis have been made only in non-clinical departments,'' he added.None of the appointments had anything to do with the MCI inspection, he stressed, adding that he was not aware of any appointments made today. ``Posts are lying vacant as we are not getting qualified people,'' Dr Mohanty said. He also said no outsiders were asked to officiate as teachers today. In its last inspection in 1997, the MCI had pointed out deficiencies in staffing, among other things, ``but most defects have been rectified to the best of our abilities,'' he claimed.
