Recruiting Teachers for Jaffna Medical Faculty

It is common knowledge that there is a severe shortage of lecturers at Jaffna Medical Faculty and several doctors teach as visiting lecturers. The regulation is that the number of academic staff should be in the ratio of one for seven students. But we have only a few teachers. Of those, many are forced to go on study leave for postgraduate studies. The remaining teachers and doctors from Teaching Hospital work hard amidst several hardships with the only objective of making our graduates equivalent to graduates of other Faculties of Medicine in Sri Lanka .

Many don't understand that the lecturers here are struggling to meet the student needs because they don't have adequate time because they have to attend to non-academic activities such as administrative functions, representing at several meetings and curriculum development and student activities such as student counseling and guiding activities of the Medical Student Union and implementing the World Bank project in addition to planning and carrying out academic activities such as lectures and practical classes.

We receive only a few applications whenever we advertise for filling the posts. Even those who apply change their mind and avoid assuming duties when recruited. This causes frustration among the working staff here. How long are they to wait to share responsibilities and relax a bit? What will be the situation when the existing teachers go away on sabbatical leave or retire? The purpose of this report is to explore the reasons for the medical graduates not joining the Faculty and to give some explanation.

There is an opinion that many Jaffna graduates have a misunderstanding with the Faculty of Medicine because they were not looked after properly when they were students. It is like the children getting angry with their poor parents. Unless our graduates come forward and fill the gaps in the Faculty like children working hard to bring their family to a good standing, this problem will keep worsening.

It is natural that the youth want to go away out of North because of the unfavorable socioeconomic and political situation. There must be a hope for better times to come. The younger generation must have the courage and determination to face the prevailing conditions. Otherwise what will be the future if everybody here decides to leave for the same reason? Short sighted expectations should not derange or hinder the life of individuals and the development of public institutions.

There is a feeling that many graduates are deterred from joining the Faculty because of the opinion that joining the university service means leaving the field of Medicine. The Post Graduate Institute of Medicine in Colombo is a part of University of Colombo . Preferred qualifications for promotion to the post of senior lecturer in the Faculties of Medicine are the post graduate qualifications offered by the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Colombo . This is applicable to departments teaching first year to final year students. PGIM degrees are compulsory for teachers in clinical departments. The practice of promoting teachers only if they get post graduate qualifications from the PGIM or giving priority to them is implemented in all Faculties of Medicine in Sri Lanka except in Jaffna . We are about to face the risk of our medical degree becoming un-acceptable for registration if we do not adopt such practice. There is another working rule in Sri Lanka that only 10 % of the teachers in a medical faculty can be non-medical persons.

Today all general hospitals are full up with consultants. New consultants are being posted to far away hospitals in rural areas. There is a severe competition in getting entry into PGIM courses. Now the easy way to enter into PGIM courses and to become a consultant to work in or to be in contact with Teaching Hospital Jaffna is to be enrolled into the Faculty of Medicine as academic staff. A person with PGIM degree will be recruited into the position of senior lecturer grade 2; five years after the post graduate degree the person will be posted as senior lecturer grade 1. Professorship is given after assessing the research, educational service and contribution to national development and the suitability is proved. There is no post in the Department of Health equivalent to professorship. Ways and means of giving the title of professor to consultants working for the PGIM are being considered.

Further, there is no restriction for indulging in private practice out side working hours for medically qualified lecturers. The problem in the salary scale of lecturers has been removed. In any case, whenever the salary of the medically qualified lectures becomes less than that is expected to be paid by the department of health, the difference will be bridged by a special allowance. In addition, university teachers have the freedom to plan and work at their convenience with the cooperation of the fellow lecturers.

Medical educationists say that medical graduates are the suitable teachers to teach medicine. The curriculum remains unchanged only in our Faculty. Several years have passed after we decided to change our curriculum to introduce patients from the first year and to teach medicine in a meaningful way. The only difficulty in changing the curriculum is the shortage of staff- particularly medically qualified staff. All teachers involved in teaching from first to final year students must collaborate with the teaching hospital.

The reasons for the excessive workload for the staff at present must be understood. We are facing the problem of a few staff members carrying the work load of 65 academic staff. When all vacancies are filled and the staff strength improved the workload of individuals will be reduced and the Faculty will be in a position to fulfill its obligation to investigate the health problems of our region and to find solutions.

Jaffna Faculty of Medicine is in a critical situation now. Either it has to improve its staff position, develop its curriculum and go forward or lag behind and disintegrate. The power to decide the fate of the Medical Faculty is in the hands of our young graduates.

Dr. K. Sivapalan,

Dean.