J&K’s Healthcare in Crisis: Faculty recruitment delays hit patient care, medical education

Srinagar, Oct 13: Chronic delays in faculty recruitment at major health and medical education institutions in J&K are leaving hospitals understaffed and medical students underserved, unmotivated, and anxious about their careers.

No permanent faculty hires have been made in these institutions for nearly six years, causing severe disruptions in patient care and threatening the professional prospects of hundreds of aspiring medical professionals.

Bureaucratic hurdles, ongoing court cases, and unfinalised recruitment rules have compounded the crisis, placing day-to-day hospital operations in jeopardy. While faculty shortages in J&K have been an ongoing issue, the current deadlock began in 2019 when recruitment notifications for GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu were issued and later withdrawn due to disputes over grading systems. Six years on, the Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department has yet to finalise and notify updated recruitment rules, creating a shortage of treating doctors and specialists while shrinking opportunities for medical education.

At SKIMS Soura, the situation is equally critical. A recruitment notification issued in 2021 failed to conclude, leaving a five-year gap in faculty appointments. More recently, SKIMS lost its autonomous recruitment power, which was handed over to the J&K Public Service Commission (PSC), but even this process has faced repeated deferments.

Temporary measures such as Academic Arrangement Appointments, intended to bridge faculty gaps and provide postgraduate students with practical experience, have largely stalled due to court cases, leaving medical colleges without stop-gap support.

The consequences are visible in hospitals across the Union Territory. Patient care at GMC Srinagar, GMC Jammu, SKIMS Soura, SKIMS Medical College Hospital, and newer medical colleges is “severely hampered,” with overcrowded OPDs, longer wait times, shorter consultations, and strained resources. Faculty shortages have also forced compromises in teaching MBBS and MD students, with many qualified aspirants “aging out” before recruitment processes move forward.

Delegations of J&K doctors have repeatedly warned of an impending brain drain. “It is not uncommon for recruitment processes to fail because candidates move outside J&K, even abroad, when no opportunities exist locally,” one candidate told Greater Kashmir.

J&K Minister for Health and Medical Education, Sakina Itoo, acknowledged the issue, stating, “We have referred many posts to recruiting agencies and are hopeful that things will move on smoothly.”