GMC Ernakulam teachers notify academic strike on May 31

Kerala: There is a reported shortage of faculty at GMC Ernakulam. An inspection by MCI is likely to happen soon. Following which, DME’s decision to transfer doctors, has further irked the staff working in the institute. This has led to the teachers serving a notice, calling an academic strike on May 31.

A media report implied that after the government took hold of the college, it has been constantly facing the challenge of integrating human resources into the new management.

11 posts for doctors are lying vacant, as 15 doctors have recently left the institution. In total, 148 posts have been created.

202 doctors are required at the medical college to retain the health ministry recognition. However, the stand-alone status of the college, during its integration in 2013 does not allow it to transfer doctors.

The teachers in the college are now upset over senior officials trying to move beyond the agreement. They do not like health officials to post people as they want.

It is a breach of trust with the employees at the Ernakulam college, said C. K. Nazeem, president of the Cochin Medical College Teachers Association to the Hindu. The posts were created in the college here to accommodate the people in the college, she said.

Till 2018, the government can continue to take in people on contract to fill in these posts. This would save the doctors in the institution losing out on promotion chances too, she said. However, the Medical Education Department has transferred a doctor from another medical college citing that the students and college should not suffer. But Dr. Nazeem said when the transferred person is set to retire in less than a month it does not fulfil any of the aspects. It is only a ploy to get the 11 vacant posts into the DME’s pool, she said.