Is healthcare being compromised due to delay in posting deans to government medical colleges?

Delay in appointing deans at key government medical colleges in Southern Tamil Nadu hampers administrative processes and hospital functioning.

Delay in appointing deans in some of the important government medical colleges in the Southern part of the State has been hampering important administrative processes and also the smooth functioning of the hospitals. 

As post of deans remains vacant in government medical colleges in Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Kanniyakumari, Theni and Virudhunagar, for the time being senior doctors are holding the post with Full Additional Charge (FAC). 

Though temporary arrangements have been made for administering the respective medical colleges and hospitals, the efficiency of a full-time dean cannot be matched by the in-charge deans, opine activists and former deans. 

For the Southern districts, Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) remains the key referral point. Though all the districts have their own government hospitals, the GRH, due to its capability of handling large numbers of patients with serious complications, plays a key role in treating numerous patients every single day. 

But the irony is that GRH has been in operating with no full-time dean since May 2024. After the retirement of A. Rathinavel, C. Dharmaraj, Professor, General Medicine, Madurai Medical College, assumed office as in -charge dean. Following his retirement, V. Selvarani, Professor, Department of Cardiology, Madurai Medical College, took over as in-charge dean.  

The number of dean in-charges in the recent days raises a critical question of how badly this would affect the functioning of the hospital and what is the key role of a dean in a government hospital.  

 A retired government medical college dean, who does not want to be named says, though the powers of a dean were conferred on an in-charge dean, there would surely be a lag in decision-making.