Shillong: On September 14, 2017, NEIGRIHMS clarified through its Law Officer E Jiten on the status of the pharmacies including the AMRIT outlet for providing medicines for cancer and cardiovascular diseases at a cheaper rate. The clarification stated that the medicines were available whereas patients complained that medicines for cardiovascular diseases were not available at a particular time.
Following the report which appeared in The Shillong Times, “NEIGRIHMS free med shop always out of stock” (September, 9, 2017), it is learnt that on September 28, 2017, NEIGRIHMS Director, Dr DM Thappa accompanied by 10 faculty members including the Vigilance Officer, Dr P Bhattacharya virtually raided the cardiology department and harangued the doctors there. In tow was a camera person. This raid created quite a stir among the patients and disrupted work in an otherwise busy department.
The clarification from NEIGRIHMS says that “a spot enquiry also took place to detect malpractices and vigilance enquiry was initiated.” This was done allegedly because the “Institute received a complaint that the departments of cardiology, cardio-thoracic & vascular surgery (CTVS), neurosurgery and interventional radiology are not procuring medicines vide AMRIT”.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, an aggrieved Dr Animesh Mishra, head of the department of cardiology, said that he was never served with a formal notice of a vigilance enquiry being instituted against him for alleged malpractice. The vigilance enquiry has become a sore point for Mishra but a double-edged sword for the director who has refused to grant permission to attend a national conference at Jodhpur and an international conference in Japan through Vigilance Officer, Dr Bhattacharya.
This denial goes against the extant DoPT/CVC guidelines of the Government of India since there is neither a preliminary enquiry nor charge-sheet against Dr Mishra and nor is he under suspension, except for several memos being served on him since Dr Thappa joined as director.Dr Mishra has taken exception to the fact that Law Officer E Jiten has informed the media about a vigilance enquiry being instituted against him without any proof of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Dr Mishra has sought RTI replies on who the complainant/s against him personally and the department of cardiology are, and what are the specific complaints. He also questioned how an internal matter of NEIGRIHMS has been leaked to the media and on what administrative rules.
All the relevant answers have been denied to him by the CPIO under Section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act which says that providing information on the queries could prejudice the enquiry.
A visibly agitated Dr Mishra speaking to this correspondent said that there existed an air of unease and the working environment in his department was sought to be disrupted by needless inspections and questioning of patients by the present director.
When contacted, Dr Thappa said that this was not an inquiry against a particular person but one being conducted for some malpractices in the department.
According to him, the inquiry is also being conducted in other departments following a complaint from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“The PMO referred the matter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and then it was referred to us,” he said.
“This is not a personal inquiry against the person and I am not against anybody,” he added.
