HC relief to Doctor who got struck off from MD Emergency Medicine course at AIIMS due to amputation after accident

Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Judge Rajani Dubey was hearing the writ petition filed by the MBBS doctor seeking direction to quash the letter forwarded after recommendations from the institutional committee that declared the doctor unfit to continue the Postgraduate Course in Emergency Medicine at AIIMS Raipur.

"At present no rules exist where AIIMS Raipur can change your branch of PG or permit you to do PhD / MPH without entrance examination or appoint you at the post of General Duty Medical Officer at AIIMS Raipur. Therefore, as you are unfit to continue the MD Course in the Department of Emergency Medicine, your name has been struck off from college role and you may collect your original documents after submitting No Dues from all relevant Departments," the committee constituted for suitability of pursuing the course had recommended.

The decision to remove the doctor from the institute on the basis of an injury sustained after joining the course.

Dr Ashwini Singh, who has completed his MBBS from AIIMS Bhopal in 2021 joined the postgraduate course of MD Emergency Medicine at AIIMS Raipur under the UR category in January 2022. Unfortunately, during the course of his residency he met with an accident on 9th August 2022 and sustained a major injury to his right arm . Subsequently, during the course of hospital stay his right shoulder disarticulation was done. The doctor completed the prosthetic rehabilitation program in the middle of January 2023 and submitted his joining request to the Dean's Office of AIIMS Raipur.

However, the institutional committee set up decided that he is unfit to continue his residency in Emergency Medicine due to his disability and since there are no rules that permit AIIMS Raipur to change his branch of PG or permit him to do a PhD/MPH without an entrance examination, or appoint him to the post of General Duty Medical Officer at AIIMS Raipur his name was struck off from college roll and he was asked to collect his documents.

The institute's attitude towards the doctor prompted letters from various doctors' bodies calling the move unfair and unjust. Associations including the Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) of AIIMS Bhopal and The Federation of All Indian Medical Association (FAIMA) issued a statement in support of the doctor that read, "No one can guarantee that individual can't face any uneventful circumstances in their life but on the basis of this, they shouldn't be removed from any Institute," and urged the concerned authorities to consider the case very sympathetically and offer possible justice to him on humanitarian grounds.

Meanwhile, the doctor himself resorted to legal means and moved a writ petition with Chhattisgarh High Court. The counsel for the petitioner drew court's attention towards an annexure in which the committee suggested that considering the use of myo-electric prosthesis and current motor skill, the candidate may be permitted to continue course in few other branches wherein time-based competencies are not involved.

The counsel further submitted, "During the interaction with the candidate, he has expressed his interest in Radiodiagnosis, Nuclear Medicine Dermatology and Psychiatry. So committee members are of the opinion to consider the same in the best interest of candidate and further Annexure P-9 dated 01.05.2023. Considering the aforesaid facts, the case of the petitioner may be considered sympathetically by the institution."

Deliberating the case, the court observed in favour of the doctor and eventually held;

"Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and taking into consideration Annexure P-8 and Annexure P-9, the present writ petition is disposed off with a direction to respondent No.1(AIIMS Raipur) to consider the case of the petitioner sympathetically in accordance with law within a period of six weeks from today."

To view the original order, click on the link below: