New Delhi: The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), once described as the pride of the region and a centre of excellence, is now headed for a collapse because of the dictatorial Director who is bringing disrepute and inefficiency to the institute, Rajya Sabha MP Wansuk Syiem said in Parliament on Thursday.
Raising the matter in the Upper House, Syiem demanded immediate intervention of the Centre to bring the institute back to normalcy. She was vociferously joined by the Chief Whip of opposition Congress party Bhubaneswar Kalita, Assam PCC president Ripun Bora and other MPs.
NEIGRIHMS had kindled high hopes among the people of North East to access world class healthcare facilities on the lines of the AIIMS, Wansuk said. “But unfortunately, the incumbent Director of NEIGRIHMS, with his autocratic ways of functioning, is at constant loggerheads with many Heads of Departments, resulting in total collapse”, she said.
NEIGRIHMS was established in 1987 designed as a Postgraduate Medical Institute in lineage of AIIMS, New Delhi and PGIMER, Chandigarh. It is the First Postgraduate Medical Institute in the Northeastern region and the third in the country established by Ministry but has been dogged by several controversies recently.
Making specific complaints, Wansuk said that recently, the Director even called police to the campus to stop the students from appearing for their doctorate and post doctorate examinations.
“I urge upon the Central government to take firm action to restore normalcy at NEIGRIHMS,” she said in her fervent appeal.
The 531-bedded hospital has an annual patient load of about 2.5 lakh with various expansion projects in the pipeline.
But recently, the prestigious institute has been dogged with several controversies affecting patients, students and even the faculties, Wansuk said. It is high time that the Centre pays attention to this institute in the remote and backward NE region, she added.
Only recently the Meghalaya High Court had to intervene and directed the authorities to work out a solution to ensure that surgeries for cardiac patients are carried out soon. There was an imbroglio at the institute, which has led to postponement of around 34 surgeries in the Cardiology department which was a result of differences between the Cardiology department and the Director.
In a pungent observation the High Court had commented that there seems to be a trust deficit at the higher level of administration. Important surgical materials required to be utilised in the surgeries have not been made available and there was serious shortage of doctors performing operations which led to a standstill position in the institute.