SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, May 11: Doctors of the Chas sub-divisional hospital in Bokaro and the deputy superintendent landed in a clash over the ‘absent’ mark on the attendance register.
Despite being on duty, doctors claim that deputy superintendent Dr Mahendra Prasad cut their attendance and marked them absent to torment them.
Bokaro Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kuldeep Choudhary took the situation seriously and launched an investigation into the doctors’ allegations.
Kirtishree, the Deputy Development Commissioner, also toured the hospital and photographed an absent notation on the doctors’ attendance register.
The DDC was not available to comment, but Bokaro civil surgeon Dr AB Prasad told reporters that the accusation is being investigated. If attendance manipulation is proven, the guilty will face consequences.
According to hospital sources, senior doctor Dr Rajiv Shekhar was recently in court for a medico-legal issue. He had even received a letter from the hospital saying that he could go. When he returned, he discovered that his attendance had been tampered with, since his signature had been marked as ‘absent.’
Another doctor, Dr Vikash Rana, had a similar occurrence. He had signed his attendance on May 6 but the deputy superintendent Dr Prasad allegedly marked him absent.
Dr Abha Rani Tirkey was also allegedly harassed by the deputy superintendent for the past two months. She has also been marked absent.
“It’s not the first time. Even in April, the deputy superintendent had done this after altering doctors’ signatures,” stated a doctor.
According to a doctor with the district health department, deputy superintendent Dr Mahendra Prasad retired in January but was given a six-month extension. As a result, he is pressuring everyone to settle his score.
“Medical officers in Bokaro faced extreme hardship when Dr AP Mandal was the district civil surgeon a few years ago, but he never did something which was this low-level as the current deputy superintendent,” a doctor said.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahendra Prasad is on leave after the deputy commissioner requested an investigation into the accusation.
