The Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has transferred at least 16 assistant professors in government medical colleges (GMCs) across the State on a “working arrangement basis” to the GMC, Kasaragod, in view of the recent approval by the National Medical Commission (NMC) for admissions to 50 undergraduate seats there.
The DME first issued a list of 14 doctors to be transferred on September 15 and another one on September 21, which had the names of seven more. Meanwhile, the shifting of five doctors from the first list was cancelled owing to “compassionate grounds.”
According to sources, the transferred doctors are supposed to work there for a minimum of three months from their date of joining or until new appointments are made, whichever is earlier. The transferred doctors are from the government medical colleges in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Manjeri. They belonged to the departments of Anatomy, Forensic Medicine, Community Medicine, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Pathology, and Physiology. This, however, has not gone down well with a majority of the doctors, who point out that new posts should have been created there instead of re-arranging the existing staff. The DME had similarly transferred 61 other doctors to Wayanad and Kasaragod earlier ahead of an inspection by the NMC. These doctors completed their three-month tenure and re-joined duty on September 9.
Sources in the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers Association (KGMCTA) said on Tuesday that most of the newly sanctioned medical colleges were facing an acute shortage of doctors. As per NMC norms, the medical college in Kasaragod had a shortage of 59 doctors, Wayanad 37, Pathanamthitta 25, and Idukki 22. Due to misplaced steps such as “working arrangement” of medical staff, the existing system had been drained of teachers. Infrastructure in most medical colleges were yet to be upgraded. They also claimed that because of the low pay at the entry level, many talented young doctors were reluctant to take up jobs in GMCs. The existing staff were yet to get arrears of salary and dearness allowance for the past four-and-a-half years as well, they said.
Meanwhile, members of the KGMCTA on Tuesday held protest demonstrations outside medical colleges across the State to highlight these issues. In Kozhikode, it was opened by T. Rosenara Begum, the association’s State president. Their demands include a full stop to redeployment of faculty to new colleges, immediate creation of permanent faculty posts, filling of existing vacancies through promotions and recruitments through the Kerala Public Service Commission, correction of anomalies in the entry-level pay of medical college doctors, among others.
Published – September 23, 2025 11:55 pm IST
