PGI head prescribes more powers for med superintendent

Talwar,who served as PGI’s director for over seven years,demitted office on April 30,while Chawla took over as the director on October 7.

According to sources,the Hospital Purchase Division,Private Grant Cell and Poor Patient Cell,which was till now handled by a professor in-charge,has now been brought under the ambit of the office of Medical Superintendent.

Even the Department of Public Relations,which was looked into by a Public Relations Committee comprising faculty members and headed by PGI Dean Amod Gupta,has also been brought under the direct control of the medical superintendent.

As of now,the Hospital Purchase Division was handled by Professor in -charge S K Jindal,head of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine. He was also the professor in-charge of the Private Grant Cell and the Poor Patient Cell.

Shifting of these departments assume significance as all the three departments deal with large amount of funds. In fact,Hospital Purchase Division handles purchasing of all consumables including medicines,chemicals,hospital items worth crores of rupees annually.

Similarly,the Private Grant Cell also has a huge inflow of funds from various government funding agencies,running into crores every year.

“It is entirely an internal arrangement,” Manju Wadwalkar,official spokesperson of the PGI,said,and refused to comment any further.

While sources in the institute say that even in the past these departments were under the office of the medical superintendent,it was Talwar who had taken away all these departments and had created separate posts of professor in-charge in 2007.

Sources say that Jindal,who had been the professor in-charge of all these three departments for past five years,had also been wanting to give up these additional departments for a long time.