BELLARY: Owing to severe shortage of staff and inadequate infrastructure, the proposal to increase student intake to 150 by the autonomous Vijayangar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) may have to be kept in abeyance for this academic year, according to Khaja Naseeruddin, director of the institute.

The present infrastructure is adequate for an intake of 100 students in the first year of MBBS, according to the Medical Council of India guidelines. To increase the intake by another 50, the institute has to fill up vacant faculty posts besides providing new buildings, renovating existing ones, and constructing a well-equipped lab.

Around 40 posts of teaching staff are vacant in 22 departments of the institute. Of these, the Physiology and Radiology departments are particularly understaffed. One professor and a few lecturers are working in the Physiology Department, and a lone lecturer is looking after the Radiology Department.

Not many are keen to join the institution because of the reportedly low pay scale on offer. Aware of this, the State Government has said it will enhance the pay but was yet to issue a government order on this.

Mr. Naseeruddin told The Hindu that all efforts were being made to comply with the prescribed norms set by the medical council to increase student intake. "The State Government is likely to issue a government order on the revised pay scales this week. After getting the order, we will start the process of recruitment through walk-in interviews," he said.

For improving infrastructure, he said the State Government has released Rs. 8 crore in the current year's budget. Work would soon commence, he said.

PG course

Mr. Naseeruddin said the institute had been permitted to start a postgraduate course in M.Ch. Urology from this year. This will make it the only institute outside Bangalore that will have the course.

The council has recognised postgraduate courses run by the institute in MSOBG, MS Orthopaedics and MD Dermatology.

Dental college

He said the institute had obtained the essentiality certificate from the Government and also from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and had forwarded it with an application to the Dental Council of India to permit it to start a dental college from this academic year.

The intake of the proposed college was fixed at 50. The State Government set aside Rs. 6 crore in its budget for creating the necessary infrastructure. "We are awaiting the dental council's permission and in the meantime the process of recruiting the staff will also commence," he said.

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