Shillong, Mar 24: Getting faculty for the Tura Medical College (TMC) is turning out to be a real headache due to a shortage of doctors, mainly specialists.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Wailadmiki Shylla today said that the problem has been felt even in the recently-opened Shillong Medical College but to a less acute degree.
The state government had long ago cautioned that finding qualified staff would be an issue for Tura and used that as a justification for its unpopular idea to run the TMC on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
There was persistent and widespread opposition to the proposed model, with opposition parties, pressure groups and civil organisations feared that this would lead to higher costs for patients of Garo Hills and higher fees for local students, partly defeating the purpose of a public medical college. As a result, the state government last year agreed to consider alternative options.
Shylla said that the government had advertised vacancies but there were few doctors from outside the state applying for the posts. “The response is not positive right now,” he said.
