Fortis docs use BMWs for ‘official’ work

The “privileged” doctors are T S Mahant,Executive Director,Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery; Gurcharan Singh Kalra,Director,Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratories; Jagmohan Singh Varma,Director (Cardiology); H K Bali,Director,Cardiology; R K Jaswal,Director,Interventional Cardiology; Arvind Sahni,Director,Gastroenterology; Manuj Wadhwa,Additional Director,Orthopaedics; and Ambuj Chaudhary,Senior Consultant,Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery. All these doctors have been working with the hospital since it came up in Mohali in 2001. The hospital,however,refused to divulge their pay packages. Hospital Director Col (Retd) H S Chehal said the doctors were entitled to use these cars only for hospital-related work. He,however,did not reveal the basis of selecting the doctors for the privilege and the objective behind the move.

Insiders said the move was aimed at attracting and retaining the best available talent. “Realising the importance of compensation packages and incentives in the manpower-driven healthcare industry,leading hospitals are bound to take such steps to sustain themselves and to protect customer base,” an official of the hospital said on condition of anonymity.

Trying to play down the matter,though,the spokesperson claimed it was an old practice. “The only difference is that this time high-end cars have replaced medium-end vehicles,” he said. “Soon,we would be adding to the fleet to facilitate next seniormost doctors,” hinted the spokesperson,adding extending luxury and facility to doctors would help bring the best out of them.