LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government revived its proposal to increase retirement age of medical teachers.

Announcing this on the floor of the house on Tuesday, minister for medical education ashutosh tandon said that a large number of medical teachers to run state medical colleges. "In order to tackle the huge of shortage of teachers, the government was contemplating raising the retirement age from 65 to 70," he said.

The proposal for increment in age was mooted in April 2017, almost a month after the BJP took charge of the state. The proposal was also placed before the state cabinet but it couldn't see light of the day. Sources said that the huge financial burden that would have followed the decision became the roadblock.

Director general medical education Dr KK Gupta said, "The MCI has already advocated that the retirement age of medical teachers should be raised to 70 years and we re-employ teachers who retire at 65 till the age of 70. The work on this is underway.” Sources said that the relevant government orders may be implemented in the new financial year.

To note, MCI authorities have documented that in 398 medical colleges across the country, there are more than 52,000 MBBS seats and to maintain the teacher-student ratio, state governments often increase the retirement age within the prescribed limit.

Gupta added that that the decision would help in checking the constant fall in number of teachers which puts the quality of teaching at stake.

In UP, state medical colleges face about 25% shortfall of medical teachers across various levels. Depending on the rank, medical college/institution and its antiquity, it can go up to 50%. The shortfall invites the ire of the Medical Council of India which often threatens to cancel the recognition of UP Colleges.

Sources in medical education directorate said the proposal would be placed before the cabinet in a few weeks. They also revealed that the idea had already been cleared by chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi during the presentation made by the department.

The decision would immediately affect teachers in SN Medical College, Agra; GSVM Medical College, Kanpur; Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad; Lala Lajpat Rai Medical College, Meerut; Maharani Lakshmi Bai Medical College, Jhansi and Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur .

It will also impact teachers in newly established state medical colleges in Ambedkarnagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Azamgarh. Teachers in institutes like King George's Medical University, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences will also benefit.

Medical education experts said, "Shortage of professors limits opportunity for post graduate medical education which takes a toll on specialisation and the number of specialists remains low," said Dr D P Mishra, former head of UP government doctors' association.

However, different states have different retirement age for their teachers. While teacher surplus Tamil Nadu retires its staff at 58, deficit in Bihar , Bengal and Maharashtra made the authorities retire medical teachers at 67, 65 and 64 years respectively. In Punjab, medical teachers retire at 62 years.

