Indian Express: Chandigarh: Tuesday, February 09, 2016.
HEALTH
MINISTER Anil Vij Monday sought a report from the Health Department about state
government doctors being posted in Panchkula on demand.
The Indian
Express Sunday reported how the Haryana government had made “adjustments” for
these doctors either at the office of Director General Health Services or
General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, while other districts did not have
doctors.
An RTI
enquiry filed by a health department official revealed in detail that some
doctors got approval from the office of the Haryana Chief Minister and, in one
case, a recommendation came from the Panchkula MLA.
Vij said
Additional Chief Secretary Health P K Mahapatra has been directed to submit the
report within two days.
“Taking
cognizance of the news report, I have called for all the facts as to who all
are posted at various departments in Panchkula, their stay, at which all places
they were transferred and when they returned,” said Vij.
Adding that
the details reported by The Indian Express were shocking for him, Vij said,
“Gadbad to kar rahe hain (There is hanky panky). Once I get the report, then my
office will personally verify all the facts told by these officers so that they
may not be able to conceal all the facts.”
After the directions,
the Health Department was on its toes. Additional Director General Health Kamla
Singh called Chief Medical officer (CMO) V K Bansal and all other doctors, who
had come back to Panchkula even after their transfers.
The RTI also
detailed how the Haryana government ensured that spouses of those in high
positions in the government and senior bureaucrats were “adjusted” in Panchkula
and around.
Rekha Singh,
MD Radiology who is posted as Deputy Director at the head office since 2009, is
the wife of IAS official Avtar Singh. She told The Indian Express that her’s
was a “couple case” government jargon for posting a husband and wife in the
same place.
Dr Usha
Gupta, wife of Principal Secretary in Haryana government T C Gupta, spent 15
years at the Panchkula general hospital, first as Senior Medical officer and
later as Principal Medical Officer. In July 2015, she was posted at State
Institute of Health and Family Welfare, also in Panchkula. But as Sonia
Khullar, wife of Principal Secretary to Chief Minister RK Khullar, was to be
adjusted there, Gupta was transferred to the office of Director General Medical
Education Research in Sector 2 Panchkula. Khullar is at SIHFW.
The doctor
who replaced Usha Gupta as principal medical officer at Panchkula general
hospital, Dr Veena Singh, is the wife of IAS Devinder Singh.
Bhawna Chaudhary, who was at the office of
DGHS, was transferred to MLA Hostel dispensary as senior medical officer in
Chandigarh last year. The hostel has provision for only one such officer, now
there are three. She is the daughter of politician K V Singh. The Indian
Express called her but she disconnected after hearing the question.
Another
doctor who has been at Panchkula for the last 15 years, the RTI details
revealed, is SMO Sarita Saroop Yadav. She has been the medical officer at
general hospital since 2001 and then SMO since 2009 till date. She too is the
wife of an IAS officer. Yadav told The Indian Express that she has already been
to various places in Haryana before her posting here.