Pimpti-Chinchwad civic body corporators bicker among themselves, stall move to appoint doctors at civic hospitals

While some doctors at YCM Hospital have already left after receiving better salaries at other hospitals, “others are in mood to quit YCMH if no decision is taken regarding their appointment," said a doctor.

Pimpti-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pimpti-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation coronavirus, Pimpti-Chinchwad coronavirus, pune coronavirus, Pimpti-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation coronavirus hospitals

Laxmi Road, which is usally crowded with processions on Ganesh Chaturthi, wears a deserted look due to Covid-related restrictions, in Pune on Saturday. (Pavan Khengre)

The process to formally appoint over 100 doctors at YCM Hospital and other hospitals run by the Pimpti-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has been stalled once again, as the civic general body on Friday postponed a decision on giving appointment letters to the doctors.

The 103 doctors were selected through a rigorous procedure in February.

“I have no clue why they are opposing the appointment of Covid warrior doctors…we are helpless…,” Municipal Commisisoner Shravan Hardikar told The Indian Express on Saturday.

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“Of the 103 doctors, 80 are already working with us on a contract basis. Twenty three of them, who are specialists, are yet to join as they have not been given appointment letters,” he said.

Hardikar added, “I have cancelled my plan to invoke my special powers. The corporators will have to take a decision in the larger interest of the people. The ball is in their court. ”

Hardikar said at Friday’s meeting, a few corporators opposed the appointment of doctors on permanent basis in civic services. “Some corporators said they had had a bad experience with civic hospitals and doctors, and therefore they were opposing their permanency in service. Our hospitals have handled over 10,000 positive cases. If in one or two cases, corporators had had a bad experience, there is no need for generalisation. This is not fair…They should take an appropriate decision as it would otherwise affect the morale of the medical team,” he said.

Some civic officials said the attempts made to stall the appointment of doctors will send out a wrong signal among the medical community.

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“We are already suffering from shortage of doctors. New doctors will hesitate to join PCMC service if such a situation prevails, ” he said.

While some doctors at YCM Hospital have already left after receiving better salaries at other hospitals, “others are in mood to quit YCMH if no decision is taken regarding their appointment,” said a doctor.

Condemning the behaviour of corporators, Mayor Usha Dhore, who is from the ruling BJP, said, “The behaviour of the corporators in Friday’s civic general body meeting was unacceptable. The way they were opposing the appointment of doctors did not make any sense to me. The doctors are risking their lives while trying to save Covid-19 patients. Instead of extending our best possible help to them, corporators were unnecessarily quarreling and raising ruckus in the House. If they have a grievance against doctors, it can be resolved by approaching the administration. But this is not the way…”.

She said the BJP was determined to give permanency in service to Covid warrior doctors, adding, “Because of the chaos in the House, I had to adjourn the meeting. Our House leader asked me to do so. It will now be held on August 26. We have a huge majority and we will get the proposal passed… only a few corporators had opposed the move. Therefore, getting the proposal passed will not be a problem”.

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BJP corporator Sandeep Waghere, who opposed the appointment of doctors, said,”The BJP is being unnecessarily defamed. Except for two or three doctors, I don’t see doctors giving their best at YCM Hospital. I have personally seen the plight of Covid patients. Because of the negligent attitude of doctors, YCM Hospital has seen continuous surge in number of deaths. Why are the doctors not putting all their efforts in saving the lives of patients? Why are there so many deaths taking place at YCM hospital compared to other hospitals in the city? I have also opposed the appointment of the hospital dean, who does not have the required qualification for the post. The PCMC administration has been lax in handling the medical team. “

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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