TURA: The State government has terminated the services of 16 AYUSH doctors working at different health centres in West Garo Hills after reports of ‘illegal appointment’.
The doctors, who were appointed on contract basis under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram programme, allegedly do not have the medical degrees required for the post and only have diploma certificates, many of which are from unrecognised institutions.
They were posted at Selsella, Dalu, Darengre, Asanang and Tikrikilla health centres and were drawing salary of Rs 22,000 every month.
Those who have been sacked are Monirul Islam, Poinur Ali, Nabajyoti Barman, Parag Talukdar, Md. Z.J Iqbal, Saber A. Sarkar, Nur Alom Mondal, Sanjay Kr Paul, Aminur Rehman, Mainul Haquew, Safiullah Munshi, Elias Ahmed, Sariful Islam, Tanjit Mehbud, Anowar Hussain and Akbar Hussain Mondal.
The contracts were terminated with effect from December 31 following an order from the District Medical and Health Office after a probe into the appointments found anomalies in their qualifications.
A young social activist from Phulbari, Peter A. Sangma, brought to the fore the appointment scandal.
Peter had lodged a complaint with the deputy commissioner of West Garo Hills citing widespread anomalies in AYUSH appointments at various primary health centres. He had sought a thorough inquiry into the racket. The minimum criterion for the AYUSH post is a Bachelor’s degree.
The inquiry ordered by the district administration found none of the 16 ‘AYUSH’ doctors had degree certificates.
This is the third case of ‘fake’ AYUSH appointments in the Garo Hills that has even raised questions about the role of politicians in such large-scale anomalies.
Earlier, as many as 15 out of 19 ‘AYUSH’ doctors in East and North Garo Hills districts were also dismissed after they were found to have provided fake degrees.
