CAG report on medical colleges: 23% faculty shortage at MAMC Delhi, Uttarakhand worse at 64%

NEW DELHI: The recent evaluation of the public healthcare systems in three Northern states of Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) revealed a glaring shortage of teaching staff in government medical colleges.

The audit reports, released between February 20 and March 7, 2025, found up to two-thirds of faculty positions to be vacant in medical, nursing and AYUSH colleges as well as super specialty hospitals run by the three state governments. The shortage persists across all teaching levels, with some medical education institutes being run even without a full-time head.

The CAG report on medical colleges in India looked at trends over five years, from 2016 to 2021. Noting that the shortage of teachers is affecting the quality of medical education and healthcare delivery, the CAG has recommended changing the recruitment norms and filling up of posts expeditiously. Some of these are being filled on contractual basis, the states have informed.

In January 2025, the National Medical Commission (NMC) framed new norms for medical college recruitment, relaxing certain criteria to expand the faculty pool.

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MAMC, Delhi medical colleges

At Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), which was picked for review from the three medical colleges run by the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), the auditor found 69 out of 295 (23%) of teaching posts to be vacant in the year 2021-22. The CAG report on medical colleges, however, shows that the proportion of unfilled positions at MAMC has been steadily decreasing from 32% in 2016-17 to 20% in 2020-21, before it rose again.

The report also informs that of 295 faculty posts at MAMC, 73 posts are temporary in nature and have continued as such for the last 20 years.

The Delhi government, in December 2022, had told CAG auditors that MAMC had initiated the process of filling up the vacant posts of teaching faculties on contractual basis.

MAMC faculty position

The Ahilya Bai College of Nursing at Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital, another institute audited by CAG, didn’t have a principal between 2016-17 and 2021-22.

The college had only two assistant and associate professors against the total requirement of five. The number of clinical instructors at the institute dropped from five in 2018-19 to just one in 2019-20, even though six are needed. Of 16 teachers required by norm, the college had between 10 to 13 during the audit period.

Ahilya Bai College of Nursing, Delhi (Source: Ahilya Bai College of Nursing)

The situation was even worse at GNCTD’s four AYUSH colleges. Almost half – 105 out of 224 – teaching posts at these institutes were lying vacant during the audit period and three of them were functioning without a principal.

There was an overall shortage of 63% professors and 71% associate professors. The Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, the largest among them, didn’t have a single professor or associate professor.

“Though the seats for students were enhanced from 128 to 158 (25%) from academic session 2019-20 in A&U Tibbia College, teaching staff was not increased proportionate to the increased number of seats,” read the CAG findings on medical education in India.

Delhi AYUSH Colleges: Faculty positions

According to the report, in place of regular faculty at Dr BR Sur Homoeopathic Medical College, 15 General Duty Medical Officers were deployed. In December 2023, the Delhi government had told CAG that the process of filling of vacant posts had already been undertaken for the homoeopathic wing.

“In the case of Ayurveda and Unani wings, medical officers and pharmacists have joined the department and the remaining vacant posts have been notified to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSB) for recruitment,” the report notes the state as saying.

GNCTD’s two autonomous super speciality hospitals – Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH) and Janakpuri Super specialty Hospital (JSSH) – face a similar situation. While the former had 14 (2017-18) to 29 (2020-21) teaching doctors against a sanctioned strength of 85, the latter had recruited a maximum of eight on 24 posts as of March 2021.

According to CAG, the two hospitals are unable to attract teaching doctors due to the absence of any provision for promotion and career progression in the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed between the institutes and the state government. As a result, the hospitals have resorted to hiring teachers on short contracts through walk-in interviews.

“The frequent change of doctors besides their shortage affected the functioning of the hospitals compromising the ability of these hospitals in providing super specialty health care facilities to the patients,” notes the report.

The report also highlights that RGHSS is yet to undertake academic and research activities, as envisaged in its MoA. It was noted that the hospital has neither started postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching facilities nor opened any referral centres in different parts of Delhi.

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The auditor has suggested that the government make the recruitment norms more attractive for teaching doctors so that a “satisfied and consistent workforce” is available in these hospitals.

Uttarakhand government medical colleges

The faculty shortage is more severe in Uttarakhand.

Of 1,264 sanctioned clinical and non-clinical teaching posts, a whopping 805 (64%) weren’t filled. There were no principals at two of the three state medical colleges – GMC Dehradun and GMC Haldwani – while none of the institutes had a regular medical superintendent. Incidentally, the state had added 521 new posts in August 2021 at these institutes to increase their MBBS intake.

Uttarakhand government medical colleges (GMC): Faculty position

In November 2022, the state government had informed CAG that a committee under the chairmanship of the vice-chancellor of HNB Uttarakhand Medical Education University (HNBUMU) was formed for contractual appointments.

“The state also mentioned that the recruitment process for 339 assistant professors will be carried out in the near future. While the government has taken some initiative to fill the vacant posts in medical colleges, the government needs to make sustained efforts to ensure availability of staff in medical colleges,” CAG says.

GMC Haldwani (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The state’s AYUSH colleges are only slightly better off, with almost half of their posts filled.

Faculty position at Uttarakhand’s AYUSH colleges

That said, one of the institutes did not have a principal.

Rajasthan medical colleges

In Rajasthan, while evaluating the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) scheme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), CAG found large scale vacancies in teaching posts at the Super Speciality Block (SSB) of the Rabindranath Tagore (RNT) Medical College, Udaipur.

RNT Medical College, Udaipur (Source: RNT Medical College)

The institute, along with two other government medical colleges, was selected for upgrade under PMSSY, a programme aimed at correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare services and augmenting facilities for quality medical education

The auditors report that while the construction of SSB in RNT Medical College was completed by January 2018, the building wasn’t handed over to the institute until August 2020 – a delay of more than two years. The CAG noticed that against the 58 posts of teaching staff, only 20 had been posted – a 66% vacancy.

Super Speciality Block, RNT Medical College, Udaipur: Faculty position

The state didn’t address this issue when CAG sought a reply.