Dr Ashutosh Gupta takes charge as new principal of GMC Jammu

Jammu: Dr Ashutosh Gupta has recently been appointed as the Principal of Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu. This came after the former principal Shashi Sudan Sharma was shunted out on Tuesday after she was booked by the crime branch under the allegations of tampering with her date of birth.

Dr Ashutosh Gupta has been working as the Head of the Department of Radiotherapy. 

The Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department, Bhupinder Kumar issued an order on 25th July. The order stated that Gupta will hold the charge of the post of principal, GMC, Jammu, in addition to his own duties, for a period of one year, or till further orders.

Dr Gupta completed his MBBS from GMC Jammu and he pursued MD (Radiotherapy) from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. He has worked as a Senior Resident in Radiotherapy at PGI Chandigarh. He also worked as a Senior House Officer in Clinical Oncology at Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK. He served as the President of the Association of Radiation Oncologists of India North Zone from 2010 to 2012.

According to an official order, former principal Sharma was transferred and posted as secretary (Technical) in the Health and Medical Education Department, in the interest of the administration and patient care, with immediate effect. The crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police had booked Sharma early this month for allegedly forging her date of birth to get wrongful gains.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that the former principal used fabricated dates of birth certificates to gain admission in the MBBS course at GMC Jammu under the nose of the government. The accused used her two dates of birth, i.e. 08.04.1964 and 08.04.1965, to cheat the government and gain admission to the college. The matter could not have been revealed until a written complaint filed by Manu Gupta against the doctor came to the fore, alleging that she had tampered with her age documents to get an undue advantage for getting admission to the MBBS course in the GMC Jammu as she was underage at that time.

During preliminary verification, it was astonishing to note that when the investigating agency raided her residence, it found the original admission file of her carrying no age proof attached to it. When the case was registered, the court refused to extend the interim bail granted vide order dated 06-07-2023 and dismissed the anticipatory bail application.