Doctors posts remain vacant in TN medical colleges; services and promotions affected

Doctors posts remain vacant in TN medical colleges; services and promotions affected

 Pushpa.Narayanan@timesofindia.com 25.09.2025

Chennai : At least 35% of doctors’ posts in the Directorate of Medical Education have been vacant, affecting the quality of services and delaying surgeries and treatment for patients at staterun medical college hospitals across the state. On Monday, members from the Tamil Nadu govt doctors’ association met health officials at the secretariat, urging the govt to conduct counselling for promotions to fill up vacancies. Positions such as assistant, associate, and professors in medical colleges and hospitals are not direct recruitments to the govt.

 “Doctors who join as medical officers in primary health centres get placed in teaching and non-teaching positions at medical colleges after they clear their postgraduation,” said TN govt doctors’ association president K Senthil. They join as assistant professors and become eligible for promotion to associate professor in five years. Three years from then, they are eligible to become professors. “On average, it takes seventeen years for govt doctors to become associate professors and at least eight years after that to become professors. To fill up vacancies, the govt must conduct promotion counselling for associate professors and professors every year. 

When that does not happen, it delays promotions further,” he said. For instance, the 2024 round of counselling for assistant to associate professor is still due because the state just completed the promotions for 2023. The 2025 round of counselling for posts of associate professors and professors is delayed. “We have posts of at least 400 professors, 800 associate professors, and 1,800 assistant professors vacant. All this is because officials failed to conduct promotions on time,” he said. This year, all 36 govt medical colleges in the state received show cause notices from the National Medical Commission, the apex body regulating medical education in India, for deficiencies. “One of the main deficiencies quoted was vacancies in faculty positions. Some depts had up to 80% vacancies,” said service doctors and postgraduates association state secretary A Ramalingam.