Oops- Deceased, Retired Medical Professors get promotions in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: In a major oops moment for the Gujarat Health Department a recent order has promoted 17 medical professors among whom one had died back in 2005 while 11 others retired around a decade ago.

What adds fuel to the controversy is the fact that while the State has now promoted these professors on ad-hoc basis, they had been protesting for around last two decades claiming to be eligible for regular promotion.

In fact, after retiring from their government jobs, some of the teachers joined private medical colleges and worked as teachers and heads and retired from those posts as well.

Among the 17 Medical Professors who have been promoted on July 8, six are professors and 11 are assistant professors. The list includes Dr A O Girdhar, professor at BJ Medical College (BJMC).

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As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the order mentions that the Dr Girdhar has got ptomoted on 'temporary ad hoc basis' as professor of pharmacology on December 20, 2003 and now he has been promoted on 'ad hoc basis' in the same college with retrospective effect. However, Dr. Girdhar served for 15 years at BJMC and expired in 2005.

On the other hand, the State order has promoted Dr S L Pagi via two orders. One order has promoted him as an associate professor on 'temporary ad hoc basis' with effect from November 23, 1995. Another order mentions him as promoted to professor 'on ad hoc basis' with effect from June 26, 2008.

However, Dr. Pagi retired from the post of professor of gynaecology from Baroda Medical College (BMC) in Vadodara around 15 years ago.

The other teachers who have now been promoted after a long time since their retirement include Dr V P Hathila, professor and head of surgery department, BMC; Dr S S Vyas, professor of surgery, BJMC; Dr J D Bhatt, pharmacologist at BMC; Dr V N Swadia, professor of anaesthesia at BJMC; Dr R K Bakshi, associate professor of preventive medicine, BMC.

TOI adds that claiming regular promotion for the last 20-25 years, these doctors had held protests. In fact, these teachers had met the Health Minister and made representation in this regard as well.

While commenting on the matter, Gujarat Congress spokesman Manish Doshi claimed that such an order brings the chaos and mismanagement of the health department to the light.

"The government promoted medical teachers on ad hoc basis in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 as there was no recruitment through the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC). This also exposes that the government has failed to create a system of promoting medical college teachers," he added.

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