Tanda medical college teachers want retirement age reduced to 58 years

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, November 23

The Teachers Association of Medical College Kangra, Tanda, has requested the state government to reduce the retirement age of doctors from 62 years to 58 years. In a letter to the Principal Secretary, Health, the association stated that it had conducted a survey among doctors serving in Tanda medical college and found that 91 per cent of them favoured their retirement age to be reduced from 62 years to 58 years.

Entails stress

• The state government had increased retirement age due to nonavailability of senior faculty
• Doctors say higher retirement age is affecting their health, causing stress
• It is also blocking promotional opportunities for young doctors, who are leaving the state

In the letter, the association stated that over the past one decade, the government had periodically increased their retirement age from 58 years to 60 years and then to 62 years. The government increased the retirement age on the plea that the college did not have senior faculty. However, the problem was sorted out over the years as postgraduate seats in all medical colleges were increased to over 400. Now, about 400 postgraduate doctors were passing out of the medical colleges in Himachal every year, it said.

The letter stated that the higher retirement age led to a higher incidence of health issues like stress and hypertension among senior faculty members. It also led to decreased opportunities for the eligible young faculty, forcing them to leave the state. The higher retirement age also caused more fatigue to senior faculty members and affected their professional performance.

Dr Munish Kumar Saroch, president of the association, said that they had urged the government to reduce their retirement age from 62 years to 58 years. Most of the senior faculty members were in favour of a lower retirement age, he added.

Sources said that there was disenchantment among medical teachers serving in the state colleges against the decision of the state government to stop the payment of the non practising allowance (NPA) to retired doctors and newly recruited doctors. The medical fraternity had registered its protest with the government over the reduction in their allowances.

Besides, the senior faculty members in Tanda medical college were unhappy with the government for its failure to provide modern medical equipment. In some departments of the college, medical instruments were more than 15 years’ old.