Bhubaneswar: In what can be seen as a glaring instance of crumbling health education in the state, over 46 per cent of teaching and non-teaching posts in various government medical colleges and health institutes are lying vacant.
Health minister Pratap Jena made this revelation in the State Assembly Thursday. In his reply to a query of BJP member Dillip Ray in writing Jena said over 35 per cent teaching posts and over 55 per cent non-teaching posts in 13 government medical colleges and health institutes have fallen vacant at present.
He said of the 1,448 teaching posts sanctioned in these health education establishments, 944 men are in position while 504 teaching posts of various categories are vacant. Likewise, of the 1,885 non-teaching posts in these colleges and institutes, 843 are filled up while remaining 1,042 posts are lying vacant.
The statistics provided by the minister reveals that 81 out of 393 teaching posts and 111 out of 274 non-teaching posts in SCB Medical College, Cuttack are vacant. Likewsie, 66 out of 254 teaching posts and 98 out of 233 non-teaching posts in MKCG Berhampur and 98 out of 246 teaching posts and 82 out of 231 non-teaching posts in VIMSAR Burla are vacant.
25 teaching posts and 280 non-teaching posts are lying vacant in the newly established medical college in Baripada while 40 teaching posts and 253 non-teaching posts lie vacant in the new medical college at Koraput.
Farm sector performance
The contribution of Agriculture sector to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in the last fiscal (2016-17) was 20 per cent more as compared to 2015-16 fiscal, Planning and Convergence Minister Usha Devi told the Assembly Thursday. Devi, in her written reply to member Dibya Shankar Mishra’s question, said that the contribution of agriculture to GSDP was 12.72 per cent in 2016-17. It was 11.46 per cent in 2015-16 – the lowest in five years between 2011-12 and 2016-17, she said. The growth rate of agriculture sector in 2015-16, in which the state had witnessed a drought, was -22.54 per cent.
PNN
