Political interference bane of Haldwani medical college

Tribune News Service

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Dehradun, July 16

Be it the selection of the principal or the functioning of the hospital, the state-run Sushila Tiwari Medical College, Haldwani, has been embroiled in one controversy or the other since its inception in 2004.

The medical college has not been able to make a reputation for itself in the field of medical education due to political interference in the appointment of the principal. In the past, the government had unceremoniously removed three principals.

Now, the government is again looking for a principal as the two-year tenure of Prof RC Purohit has ended. As a stopgap arrangement, the government has appointed CMS Rawat as the officiating principal of the college. But the problem is far from over.

Medical Education Department officials say the government has politicised appointments. “There is no option but to willy-nilly follow the culture of patronage and nepotism as nobody cares for qualification or merit. You must have a political backing to get a plum post,” said a senior official of the Medical Education Department.

Earlier, Prof Purohit was given a three-month extension, his contract had ended in January 2015. Sources in the department said Purohit was trying for another extension but could not succeed this time.

Now, the Directorate of Medical Education will once again start the process of inviting applications for the post while the selection is made at the highest level.

The medical college started facing problems the day the government decided to take over its control. It was earlier run by the Uttarakhand Forest Hospital Trust. While it was a trust, the controversy over the death of a woman patient gave the government the opportunity to tighten its control over the hospital. Local residents had blamed negligence on the part of doctors for the woman’s death.

However, the college has been mired in one controversy or another since then, indicating that the government control has failed to make it function properly.