Srinagar, Aug 12:- The Jammu and Kashmir Government’s prolonged delay in framing recruitment rules for non-gazetted staff of five new Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) has hampered the recruitment process and prompted employees to call for an indefinite strike from August 18.
The non-gazetted employees of GMCs Baramulla, Anantnag, Rajouri, Doda and Kathua have announced the strike, demanding an end to the delay in framing recruitment rules, which they said has continued for nearly six years.
The employees said the prolonged uncertainty has left them demoralised and deprived them of opportunities for promotions and career progression. They, however, maintained that the issue extends beyond their service conditions and has implications for the functioning of the healthcare system.
GMC Baramulla, for instance, has expanded significantly since its establishment. Its MBBS intake has increased from the original 100 seats to 150, while the hospital’s bed capacity has also grown. Several new departments and sections have been established and sophisticated medical equipment added.
However, nearly half of the sanctioned posts are reportedly lying vacant in the five new GMCs, with employees saying the shortage is increasingly affecting patient care even as the institutions continue to expand their infrastructure and academic intake.
At GMC Baramulla, 541 posts are sanctioned, of which nearly 50 per cent are reportedly vacant. Employees said the shortage is being felt directly on the hospital floor, where existing staff are often required to shoulder the workload of multiple posts.
“Where there should be three employees in a section, sometimes only one is managing the entire workload. It ultimately affects patient care. Patients have to wait, services can be delayed and the quality of attention that a patient should receive becomes difficult to maintain,” an employee of GMC Baramulla said.
Employees argued that expansion of a medical college cannot be limited to buildings, beds and machines. “Every new service requires trained manpower to operate it. Without adequate staffing, even newly established sections and newly installed equipment cannot achieve their full potential,” they said.
In 2025, non-gazetted employees of GMC Baramulla staged protests over the delay, raising concerns about their career progression and the absence of a defined recruitment and promotion mechanism. Similar concerns were subsequently raised by employees of the other four new GMCs.
In May 2026, employees of the five institutions also went on an indefinite strike over the issue. However, they said a permanent solution has yet to emerge.
“This is not merely a problem of non-gazetted employees. It is a problem concerning the entire healthcare system and unemployed youth,” the employee said.
The proposed strike from August 18 comes at a critical juncture, with employees demanding clarity over their service conditions while the government faces the larger challenge of ensuring adequate manpower in expanding medical institutions.
Employees said that in August last year, the Health and Medical Education Department had placed draft recruitment rules for the new GMCs in the public domain, but no further progress was made towards their finalisation.
According to the employees, more than 3,000 posts for the five new GMCs were created through a Cabinet decision and subsequently sanctioned vide Order No. 575-HME of 2017 dated October 23, 2017.
They said an executive order for one-time recruitment was later issued by the J&K Health and Medical Education Department for referring these posts to the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) vide Order No. 133-JKHME-2018 dated February 19, 2018.
The employees have urged the government to adopt recruitment rules on the pattern of GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu to ensure career progression and promotional opportunities for staff working in the five new medical colleges.
