Bihar: Deputy CM suspends Nalanda Medical College MS, IMA sees red

Nalanda: A recent suspension order issued by the deputy CM of the Nalanda Medical College Medical superintendent has created a bone of contention between the government and the state Indian Medical Association branch. 

During a recent inspection of Patna-based Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), the deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who also holds the health portfolio, found gross negligence on the part of the superintendent and placed him under suspension. The minister was not satisfied with the manner in which the doctors were treating dengue patients. A number of patients and their close relatives informed him that they were not getting medicines and were asked to purchase from outside. 

Yadav seemed displeased at the state of affairs at NMCH, the second largest public health care facility in the city, and issued the order for suspension of its superintendent Dr Vinod Kumar Singh, who cried foul.

Vinod Kumar Singh was suspended with immediate effect on account of negligence at work administrative incompetence, and disobeying departmental instructions after the State Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav paid a surprise visit to the hospital on Friday night.

 However, Vinod Kumar termed the action baseless and said that the action was not justified.

The suspended Medical Superintendent of the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital said that the action taken against him was not justified. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) Bihar has also come out in support, seeking to revoke the suspension order.

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"The action taken against me is baseless and wrong. Such action is not justified. The health minister has taken an unjust decision. I have given my service for two and a half years in the COVID-19 period, even after being affected by corona thrice, risking my life, served in the hospital due to lack of drain jam, drinking water, and medicine," Kumar said while talking to ANI.

Vinod Kumar Singh further said that Tejashwi Yadav has taken this action without show cause notice, which is not right.

"If Bihar government will not listen to me then I will take recourse to the court," he added.

Earlier, taking to Twitter, Yadav said, "Last night, I inspected the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital with the Additional Chief Secretary of the Health Department and senior officials."

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also come out in his support, shooting off missives to Governor Phagu Chauhan and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and vowing to fight it out in court.

"I can vouch for the dedication of Dr Singh whom I know personally. The suspension was an impulsive decision which the government must revoke," IMA National President Dr Sahajanand Prasad Singh told PTI over phone.

He interacted with the patients admitted there and took feedback from health facilities and services.

"I sent emails yesterday conveying the association's disapproval of the suspension. We will provide all support in case the aggrieved party moves the court. We have, however, advised doctors to refrain from going on a strike since it would hit the patients," Singh said.

The IMA president, who is based in Patna, also said he looks forward to meeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"It will be good for the government, too, to withdraw the suspension order which suffers from legal infirmities and is unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny," he added.

"I will have to rethink whether to continue working with the state's health department which does not treat a senior professor like me with respect. I have discharged my duties with dedication during the COVID surge. Even now, NMCH has the highest number of patients admitted to various wards, for any government hospital in Bihar," Singh told reporters.

He also alleged that Yadav was holding him responsible for poor upkeep of hospital lavatories, "which is not my job but that of the Patna Municipal Corporation that has turned a deaf ear to our repeated complaints".

He expressed bewilderment over the deputy CM's displeasure at dengue patients being kept in the same ward as those suffering from other ailments. 

"Dengue is a vector-borne viral infection which cannot get directly transmitted from one person to another. So this is a non-issue," the aggrieved doctor said.

"I sent emails yesterday conveying the association's disapproval of the suspension. We will provide all support in case the aggrieved party moves the court. We have, however, advised doctors to refrain from going on a strike since it would hit the patients," Singh said.

The IMA president, who is based in Patna, also said he looks forward to meeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"It will be good for the government, too, to withdraw the suspension order which suffers from legal infirmities and is unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny," he added.

"The IMA is free to take up the matter in whichever way it pleases. They are supposed to take the side of those in the medical profession. But, we are representatives of the people and must act in public interest," said Yadav.

"I am in possession of a list of 705 government doctors who have been absent from duty for long, in some cases as long as 10 to 12 years. Will the IMA show the spine to back the government in taking action against them?" he said.

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