Nagpur: IGMCH Dean forcefully locked out of office, files FIR

Nagpur: A visibly agitated group, consisting of a member of the Board of Visitors (BOV) at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH), along with Bhartiya Janata Yuwa Morcha (BJYM), activists locked the college Dean, Dr Meenakshi Gajbhiye, outside her cabin, in an attempt to force her to discuss the issue of poor services at the IGMCH. The agitators were present on the premises, to stage a protest on the issue on Tuesday. The dean of the college has gone and filed an FIR with the police in this regard.

The protest staged between 11 am and 2 pm, on campus was led by Jitendra Thakur, a BOV member and BJYM (Nagpur chapter) General Secretary. The protesters plan to bring up the issue in the winter session and also complain to Mr. Girish Mahajan, the Health Minister.

Speaking about the state of affairs in the college, Mr. Thakur said, "The college has not implemented even 10% of the decisions taken at the BOV meeting in August."

Speaking of irregularities, he said, "Under Rajiv Gandhi Jeevan Daayi Yojna, the college has generated revenue of over Rs1.9 crore, which is not being used. The surplus funds are supposed to support poor patients by paying for medicines, and even some charges not covered under insurance. However, the college keeps sending patients to buy medicines from outside."

The college authorities have completely denied the allegations.

Thakur also charged the college hospital of denying surgeries to patients and sending them to private hospitals for treatment. “Over 100 patients supposed to get operated under RGJDY have been sent to private hospitals," he stated. IGMCH authorities replying to the charge stated that surgeries couldn't be performed due to infrastructural constraints.

Last but not the least, the BOV member alleged, "Over 50% posts at the college are lying vacant. Some 100 attendants need to be recruited. The BOV has helped by getting permission for the same, but the college has not recruited any staffer."

Thakur further added a memorandum about these issues had also been submitted to the Dean of the college in this regard

College response

Dr Gajbhiye, speaking to TOI has completely denied having received any such memorandum. She said instead, "All these issues have never been discussed earlier, and are being raised publicly all of a sudden." The dean added, "The BOV is interfering in routine administration. They are supposed to talk about all this in the BOV meeting."

She further stated to TOI that Thakur had also been interfering in the day to day administration of the college. He insisted that the college should buy medicines through local purchase. "It restricts the purchase to just Rs1,000 per day per medicine which is too small an amount for a big hospital like IGGMC. In rate contract (RC), we can buy medicines for 3-4 months in bulk. Thakur also objected to only limited purchase of implants. The college already had a stock of 5,060 implants. They were not being used because they did not have some screws. How can I buy equipment in advance when the existing stock was not used," Dr Gajbhiye asked.

Dr Gajbhiye has filed an FIR with the tehsil police, against Thakur and one more person, on account of hurting religious sentiments, with their gimmick preventing the dean as well as 150 medical students of the college from organising a programme observing the death anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar