SHILLONG, May 29: Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Shillong, Sandra Albert on Sunday said Aman War, the DHS (MI), had crossed the line by behaving rudely with the students and faculty members of the institute.
She said the state government should resolve the issue. “Such behaviour from the DHS, looking after the well-being of the state, is uncalled for. We felt he violated the sacredness of the institution and that is why the principal secretary was informed,” Dr Sandra said.
Welcoming the state government’s decision to ask for an explanation from the DHS on the incident, she said, “We hope the issue will be resolved and the government will give us an interim space to function properly.”
The IIPH Director said the National Health Policy guidelines require all doctors recruited into the government health system to have a public health qualification. “We were going ahead with the bachelor’s course despite the challenges of space when this incident happened,” she added.
A complaint was registered against him because the students were affected, Dr Sandra said.
The complaint submitted to Principal Secretary (Health), Sampath Kumar read: “The DHS (MI) turned up at the old NIFT campus allotted to IIPH Shillong (vide notification No. Health.231/2021/14) and behaved rudely with our students.
“His men started removing our furniture and equipment from the classrooms… He shouted at the students of the BPH class that was going on and asked them to get out. Some of the female students were reduced to tears,” the complaint read.
It further said: “On hearing of the incident, Dr Jamir our Registrar quickly went over and tried to resolve the situation. But apparently, it was as if the DHS was not interested in a dialogue. Dr Jamir conveyed that we had occupied the space on the basis of the notification that we had received. Dr Jamir also suggested that we could speak with you, the Principal Secretary, to discuss any misunderstanding so that we resolve it in a calm manner and find a solution.”
The DHS (MI) was accused of using “unbecoming language and manners” instead of taking a problem-solving approach.
“The DHS said he would file an FIR against IIPH for illegally occupying the premises. When pointed out that we were following a notification, he said that it was revoked but the truth is that we have not received any such follow-up notification to date,” the complaint read.
Kumar apologised for the incident. “I am marking this mail to Dr Aman War also so that he would explain why he did what he did to the students, as narrated by you. We shall take necessary steps to resolve this issue,” he said.
