Bhubaneswar: The newly opened Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital at Koraput is now reeling under the rampant shortage of staff and teachers at a time when the Centre and state have been boasting about new medical colleges in the state.
The medical college — which has been entrusted upon with the tasks of training the medicos, imparting MBBS degrees and make future doctors –seems to be operating and teaching students with inadequate capacity. The medical college has admitted to the lack of faculty in the college in a response to an RTI application filed by an activist.
The response, as furnished by the medical college, revealed that the institution was sanctioned a total of 485 teaching and non-teaching staff, however till December 2018, only 57 per cent of the total seats could be fulfilled.
The detailed reply of the medical college revealed that out of the 485 sanctioned posts, merely 277 (57 per cent) posts have been fulfilled while a total of 208 posts are still lying vacant, making the total vacancy at 43 per cent.
Surprisingly, some important posts do not have a single candidate working on it leaving the whole section on tenterhooks. The RTI reply revealed that out of 58 lab attendants sanctioned, not a single one works in the college.
Similarly, there is not a single maternity medical officer against the sanctioned strength of two, no store medical officers, no dietician, no medical record keeper. Importing paramedic staff such as nurses, which have 17 sanctioned posts, have none working.
Other posts which do not have even a single working person include-matron, clinical psychologist, health inspector, dental technician, health educator among others.
Activists claim that this shows the sorry state of affairs in the healthcare sector in the state which already has some of the least medical colleges in the country.
RTI activist Pradip Pradhan who had filed the RTI application said, “The government takes credit for establishing five new medical colleges in Odisha. Students may face a bleak future with such shortage of faculty. Medical colleges have now been reduced to sub-standard government primary schools in Odisha.”
ZERO STRENGTH STAFF OF SLMN COLLEGE:
| POSTS | SANCTIONED | WORKING |
| Lab Attendants | 58 | 0 |
| Nursing sisters | 17 | 0 |
| Maternity MO | 2 | 0 |
| Matron | 2 | 0 |
| Clinical psychologist | 1 | 0 |
| Health Inspector | 2 | 0 |
| Dental Technician | 1 | 0 |
| Health Educator | 4 | 0 |
| Medical Record Keeper | 1 | 0 |