Days after suspending four doctors over failure to improve the sex ratio in their respective areas, the Haryana Health Department has decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings against five more senior doctors, including one Civil Surgeon and two Principal Medical Officers (PMOs).
According to a communication issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Dr Sumita Misra to Director General Health Services (DGHS) Dr Manish Bansal, the government has decided to initiate action under Rule 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment & Appeal) Rules, 2016.
The action pertains to alleged “negligence and lack of proper supervision in discharge of their official duties with respect to implementation, monitoring and maintenance of essential healthcare services infrastructure and programmes.”
The doctors against whom disciplinary proceedings have been initiated are Dr Jayant Ahuja, Civil Surgeon, Faridabad; Dr Ginni Lamba, PMO, Civil Hospital, Sonepat; Dr Surender Yadav, PMO, Civil Hospital, Rewari; Dr Gurjeet, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Civil Hospital, Jhajjar; and Dr TC Gidwal, SMO, Sub-Divisional Civil Hospital (SDCH), Ballabhgarh, in Faridabad district.
Rule 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment & Appeal) Rules, 2016, deals with major penalties. These include withdrawal of increments, withholding of promotions, reduction in pay scale or rank, compulsory retirement, removal from service and dismissal.
The ACS Health has directed the DGHS to submit draft chargesheets against the five “delinquent” doctors after vetting them through the department’s attorney by May 25.
When contacted, Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) president Dr Anil Yadav said, “We are ascertaining the facts as of now. We can’t comment on the issue.”
Attempts to contact ACS Health Dr Sumita Misra for comments were unsuccessful, while DGHS Dr Manish Bansal neither responded to calls nor replied to text messages.
Sources said the action followed a video conference chaired by Dr Misra with senior doctors.
Earlier, the department had suspended Dr Tina Anand, SMO at Community Health Centre (CHC), Purkhas in Sonepat; Dr Vijay Parmar, SMO at CHC Radaur in Yamunanagar; Dr Satpal, SMO at CHC Chiri in Rohtak; and Dr Prabha, Medical Officer at CHC Sehlang in Narnaul.
The suspension order issued on May 18 had cited “poor performance and failure to ensure effective monitoring and implementation of measures relating to improvement of sex ratio” as the reason for the action. In those cases too, the department had ordered proceedings under Rule 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment & Appeal) Rules, 2016.
