SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Jan. 21: The unceremonious removal of Director-in-Chief (DIC), health, Dr Krishna Kumar, has triggered sharp resentment among government doctors in the State.
Dr Krishna Kumar had been appointed director-in-chief, health, on July 4, 2022 after retirement of Dr Marshal Iend. He has left around two years of service in the department.
The Health department has assigned additional charge of DIC to Dr Virendra Kumar Singh, deputy director Santhal Pargana Division in place of Dr Krishna Kumar, who is the senior most medical officer in the state.
Notably, Dr Kumar had applied for voluntary retirement from service with a written affidavit to the health department saying that he was unable to discharge his responsibility under any pressure.
Medical officers and the office bearers of the Jharkhand Health Service Association (JHSA) resented that when Dr Kumar had already applied for voluntary retirement, the unceremonious removal is nothing but to humiliate a senior medical officer of the state.
Sources in the JHSA said that Dr Krishna Kumar has been removed for his refusal to give a certificate in purchase of over 150 advanced ambulances in the health department. Fearing to be trapped in a scam in future he had applied for VRS, sources added.
The JHSA leaders said that they are not against appointment of Dr Birendra Kumar Singh but the health department must explain what crime Dr Kumar had committed for which he has been humiliated.
Resentment has also prevailed among senior medical officers over assigning DIC charge to Dr Birendra Kumar Singh who is on third spot in the seniority list announced by the health department on October 7, 2022. Moreover, Dr Singh has been directly made DIC without having experience of working as civil surgeon in any district.
As per the list of health department, Dr Yugal Kishore Choudhary and Dr CK Sahi, civil surgeon and additional chief medical officer (ACMO) respectively of Deoghar district are senior to Dr Birendra Kumar Singh. Though the health department has given additional charge to Dr Birendra Kumar Singh, medical officers feel seniority should be maintained on the basis of the High Court ruling.
In 2019, the High Court had quashed a notification of the state government for assigning charge of DIC to a junior medical officer,
The then state malaria officer and senior most medical officer in state late Dr Vijay Nath Khanna challenged the state government notification in the High Court on July 1, 2019 when his junior Dr Vijay Shankar Das was assigned additional charge of DIC. The High Court on November 1, 2019 directed the state government to assign DIC’s charge to Dr Vijay Nath Khanna, who was senior most then.
However, a senior medical officer said that more than two dozen medical officers, including Dr Krishna Kumar, Dr Birendra Kumar Singh, Dr CK Sahi, Dr Yugal Kishore Choudhary, Dr Himanshu Barwar, Dr RN Sharma belong to the same 1988 batch selected through an examination conducted by the BPSC. But Dr Birendra Kumar Singh was on the top in the list. It was unfortunate that in the last 23 years in Jharkhand he was not given promotion (made civil surgeon of any district) otherwise he would have been considered senior most in the state.
