NEW DELHI: AIIMS New Delhi has filled more than 80 per cent of faculty posts advertised under one of its biggest recruitment drives in recent years, selecting 214 candidates against 265 advertised positions for its main campus and 155 against 199 posts for the AIIMS-Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS) campus across more than 50 medical and allied specialities.The recruitment comes months after the Centre informed Parliament that AIIMS New Delhi had 446 vacant faculty posts, while the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare warned that the shortage was affecting service delivery and increasing the workload on existing staff. The panel had recommended a time-bound recruitment drive to fill at least 85 per cent of sanctioned faculty posts.Patients waiting for consultations, surgeries and specialised treatment are expected to benefit as newly recruited faculty join departments that have been operating with significant staff shortages. The additional appointments are also expected to ease the workload on existing doctors while strengthening teaching, research and specialised healthcare services across the institute.On March 27, Health Minister J P Nadda, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said 446 of the 1,306 sanctioned faculty posts and 2,542 of the 13,911 non-faculty posts at AIIMS New Delhi were vacant.Some advertised posts are yet to be filled as results in a few departments remain pending because of court cases. Once these are declared, Anaesthesia could emerge as the department with the highest number of appointments, with 39 posts advertised. In the results declared so far, Obstetrics and Gynaecology recorded the largest intake with 20 faculty appointments.Officials also clarified that eight candidates figured in both the Assistant Professor and Associate Professor merit lists at the CAPFIMS campus because candidates eligible for the higher post were also eligible to apply for Assistant Professor. Since the two recruitment processes were conducted independently and interview panels awarded marks confidentially, candidates who scored high enough in both selections could feature in both merit lists. Those selected for both posts will opt for one position, with the resulting vacancy being offered to the next eligible candidate in the merit list, ensuring the overall recruitment is not affected.Conducted over six months, the recruitment process used a blockchain-enabled digital platform covering the entire recruitment cycle, from online applications and interview evaluation to result publication and appointments. AIIMS officials said candidates’ assessment scores were secured through one-time password authentication, while predefined algorithms generated the final merit lists. Every evaluation was digitally authenticated and recorded on a permissioned blockchain to create a tamper-evident audit trail, minimising manual intervention and strengthening transparency.Officials said selected faculty members will strengthen patient care, medical education, research and innovation across a wide range of specialties. They described the exercise as one of its largest faculty recruitment drives in recent years, saying the technology-enabled process also enabled timely declaration of results and reflected its efforts to modernise institutional governance.
