The state Health department has proposed to allow the teachers who have retired and resigned to take up full-time contracts and do private practice. The provision applies to those who have not crossed the age of 65.

The proposal is part of an internal report prepared by the department. This is likely to help the department deal with the shortage of teaching staff and set up five new medical colleges across the state with 750 seats.

As per the proposal, “the retirement age for medical teachers would be increased with additional monetary, academic and other ‘incentives’ to them. Fulltime appointment along with practice will be allowed in 50 per cent of the posts.”

The new colleges are to be set up at the Civil Hospital (Sola, Ahmedabad), T B Hospital (Gotri, Vadodara), General Hospital (Valsad), Civil Hospital (Patan) and Gujarat Cancer Society.

State Health Secretary Ravi Saxena said, “The number of medical seats in the state has been the lowest as compared to a number of states for years now. The increase of 750 seats is a quantum jump for which the shortage of teaching staff will be dealt with by making certain changes.” A comparative data establishes that the intake capacity in PG courses is lower than the states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, TN, Punjab, UP and Delhi.