Maharashtra: Medical education department to audit work of teachers

Doctors in the state's 17 medical colleges, including the three dental colleges, have to be on their toes from now on.

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has decided to audit the work of all 2,000 teachers in medical colleges.

Next week onwards, every lecturer, associate professor and professor will have to give details like how many patients they had attended to in the out-patient department, surgeries performed, ward rounds taken, and the number of lectures and practicals supervised. Even the number of papers sent to medical journals will be monitored.

This is the first such initiative by the DMER. The idea is to create more transparency and accountability. Every hospital dean will keep the audit data and it will be considered for promotions and increments.

DMER director Dr Pravin Shingare confirmed the move. "The medical education minister has already given instructions in this regard and we are working on it. We will analyse the data once in a year. We can even act against doctors for poor performance."

One senior doctor said on condition of anonymity: "There are some doctors who have never seen a patient. This work audit will force them to work."

Dr T P Lahane, Dean, Sir JJ group of hospital, said: "This move will really help improve the health-care system. The work audit is necessary to know how many hours each teacher has devoted."