TRIHMS MCI approval : 487 Medical College employees write to CM on job security

Itanagar: As Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) awaits a Letter of Permission (LOP) from the Medical Council of India (MCI), over 400 staff at the Tomo Riba State Hospital (TRSH) have expressed anxiety about their future career prospects.

On March 17 487 employees of TRSH had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister stating that the authority had yet to take a decision regarding the future of the serving staff at TRSH.

The employees have already indicated that the Director, TRIHMS and Commissioner Health have in a subtle manner informed them that the mentioned staffs will have to be transferred to districts once the LOP is granted to TRIHMS.

The employees said that the expected transfer of employees will in all likelihood affect not only the long-serving staff, (some of them about to retire), but also patient care in the area.

The employees are of the view that instead of transferring them, the lone state referral hospital could be attached along with its existing staff to TRIHMS.

“We support the upcoming TRIHMS and wish to be a part of the premier Institute with our service being utilized as a regular government employee in the same existing capacity as in TRSH now with its attachment to TRIHMS as a teaching hospital.This can be done by emulating the model of Safdarjung Hospital which is attached to the Vardhman Medical College under MOHF Government of India and also Maulana Azad Medical College, to which four hospitals (Lok Nayak Hospital, G B Pant Institute of PGMER, Guru Nanak Eye Centre, Sushruta Trauma Centre and Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences) are attached and functioning smoothly,” employees told Arunachal times.

Another suggestion made by the TRSH Employees Committee was to that like JNIMS, Manipur, convert the present TRHS into a medical college and absorb or depute the existing 487 staffs of TRSH in TRIHMS, or allow them to continue till suitable alternatives were found.

Talking to the Arunachal Times, a senior doctor of the TRSH said that the relevance of a state referral hospital should not be undermined by the state government.The doctor said, “In the absence of a lone state referral hospital, who will cater to or replace its services in terms of referral from primary and secondary government health centers from districts, standing medical board for government and other medical reimbursements and miscellaneous government orders. What will happen to all the vertical programs under the National Health Mission such as TB/HIV/MCH etc, which is being run by the state government for the poor, and what will happen to the tertiary cancer centre and cancer patients of state when the GoAP has already committed to giving free treatment of Rs 10 lakh per patient. How can things continue in TRIHMS when it is run by a society?”

Senior doctors and staff have alleged to have been kept oblivious of their futures at the time of joining.

They said, “The authorities have been very ambiguous from the start. There has been no clear-cut notification regarding our service rules which would be radically changed once the TRIHMS becomes functional.”

Presently, the TRIHMS does not have sufficient manpower right from the level of professor down to the nontechnical staff. The doctors were of the opinion that if 487 employees of TRSH were transferred after a LOP was granted by the MCI the emergency services as well as regular health care services of TRIHMS were likely to suffer.

The employees also stated that the 76 APHS appointments on various posts of Assistant Professor and senior, junior, tutor-demonstrator at TRIHMS on a contractual basis, also stood jeopardized.

The possibility of asking them to resign and join TRIHMS on a contractual basis, was also not likely to succeed, as none would want to let go of their government employment reports Arunachal Times.