SHILLONG: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had sent a show-cause notice to the director of NEIGRIHMS two months ago asking him to reply within 10 days why action would not be taken against him for various misconduct.
The letter from the ministry dated September 5, a copy of which is with The Shillong Times, took note of the “misconduct” of the director, Dr DM Thappa, and said he “has acted in a manner not befitting the office he holds”.
The letter listed 13 cases of misconduct and said they “hampered the smooth functioning of the institute, brought disrepute to the institute, wasted money and resources of the NEIGRIHMS/government, made wrong statements to Ministry, and statutory provisions contained in the Recruitment Rules of advertised faculty has been violated”.
The ministry said there were allegations that the DM Cardiology Exam for the 2016-18 batch of students was delayed because Thappa stipulated time frame for submitting thesis. He cited MCI guidelines as the reason for his decision.
“However, on perusal of MCI guidelines, no guideline for submission of thesis for DM students has been stipulated by MCI,” the ministry’s memorandum said.
There were also allegations that Thappa did not extend the residency tenure of senior resident doctors despite repeated requests.
Besides, there was uncertainty whether the theses papers of the third batch of DM Cardiology students were evaluated and Thappa allegedly did not answer to the letter of the head of the cardiology department seeking clarification. The director did not even meet the head.
The ministry also pointed out misconduct in recruitment process. “NEIGRIHMS advertised 6 faculty posts in various departments vide advertisement dated 06.07.2017, the effective date up to which requisite experience to be counted for the posts advertised on 06.07.2017 was indicated as 07.08.2017 instead of June 2018, which is in violation of the RRs of the advertised faculty posts,” it read.
Among other allegations, the ministry said it had requested Thappa to provide details regarding his absence from duty. “… instead of providing the requisite information regarding his leave… threatened the section officer, NE, MoHFW (Ms P Songlianvung) telephonically around 8.30pm on 21.08.2018,” the letter added.
The ministry considered the misconduct as violation of the Conduct Rules 1964 and directed Thappa to show cause, within 10 days of the issue of the memorandum, why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.
When asked whether he has replied to the letter, Thappa initially said he did not get any letter from the ministry and asked for a copy of it. When a copy was sent, he asked The Shillong Times to verify it first and added that he was not aware of any such letter.
