Alarming Faculty Shortages Plague India's Premier Medical Institutes
In a startling revelation that exposes significant staffing deficiencies across India's premier healthcare institutions, the Centre has informed the Rajya Sabha that nearly one in every three faculty positions at All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) remains vacant. This disclosure highlights substantial human resource gaps affecting both established and newly operational institutes, raising serious concerns about the quality of medical education and patient care delivery.
Nationwide Faculty Vacancies Across Operational AIIMS
The comprehensive data was presented in a written reply by Minister of State for Health Shri Prataprao Jadhav to a question posed by Shri Golla Baburao. The institute-wise details cover all twenty operational AIIMS facilities across the country, revealing sanctioned, filled, and vacant faculty positions with concerning statistics.
AIIMS New Delhi, serving as the nation's flagship medical institute, demonstrates significant staffing challenges with 446 of its 1,306 sanctioned faculty posts currently unfilled. Other major institutes show similar patterns of vacancies:
- AIIMS Jodhpur: 184 faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Mangalagiri: 138 faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Nagpur: 135 faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Kalyani: 134 faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Rishikesh: 126 faculty vacancies
Newer Institutes Face Particularly Severe Staffing Challenges
The staffing crisis appears especially pronounced in recently established AIIMS facilities, where infrastructure development has outpaced human resource recruitment. These newer institutes struggle with particularly high vacancy rates that threaten their operational capabilities and educational missions.
AIIMS Madurai exemplifies this challenge with only 70 faculty members currently serving against a sanctioned strength of 183 positions, leaving a staggering 113 posts vacant. Other newly established facilities show similar patterns:
- AIIMS Rajkot: 105 faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Raebareli: 98 faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Gorakhpur: 96 faculty vacancies
Non-Faculty Staffing Crisis Even More Severe
The staffing shortages extend far beyond faculty positions, affecting critical support roles essential for hospital functioning. Across all twenty AIIMS institutes, a total of 17,205 non-faculty positions remain vacant, including nursing staff, medical technicians, administrative personnel, and various support service roles.
AIIMS New Delhi alone reports 2,542 unfilled non-faculty positions, while other major facilities show similarly concerning statistics:
- AIIMS Rishikesh: 1,144 non-faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Patna: 1,132 non-faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Raipur: 1,069 non-faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Bhubaneswar: 1,026 non-faculty vacancies
- AIIMS Kalyani: 1,050 non-faculty vacancies
The situation reaches critical levels at AIIMS Madurai, where only 40 of 911 sanctioned non-faculty positions have been filled, leaving an astonishing 871 vacancies that severely compromise institutional operations.
Government Response and Recruitment Mechanisms
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has emphasized that post creation and recruitment represent continuous processes within the AIIMS system. Each institute maintains a Standing Selection Committee constituted under its respective Act to conduct faculty recruitment procedures and address staffing needs.
To mitigate the severe staffing gaps, the government has implemented several strategic measures:
- Engagement of retired faculty members up to 70 years of age on contract basis in newly established AIIMS facilities
- Introduction of a Visiting Faculty Scheme to bring professors from other institutions for teaching purposes
- Recruitment of nursing officers through the Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test (NORCET)
- Filling of Group B and C non-faculty positions through Common Recruitment Examination (CRE)
- Selection of junior and senior residents twice annually through INI-CET and INI-SS examinations
Expanding Infrastructure Meets Staffing Challenges
This disclosure arrives at a crucial juncture as AIIMS institutions undergo rapid expansion nationwide. These premier medical facilities are experiencing increased patient loads, expanded academic seat allocations, and growing super-speciality service offerings. The substantial scale of current vacancies raises legitimate concerns about whether staffing levels can adequately keep pace with infrastructure development and the escalating demand for tertiary healthcare services across India.
The staffing crisis at AIIMS facilities represents a critical challenge for India's healthcare system, potentially affecting medical education quality, research capabilities, and patient care delivery at the nation's premier medical institutions. As these institutes continue their expansion, addressing these human resource gaps becomes increasingly urgent for maintaining healthcare standards and meeting growing public health needs.
