TRIHMS controversy
ITANAGAR, Apr 12: Reacting to Health Commissioner Kaling Tayeng’s statement that his department does not have enough resources to retain every staffer of Tomo Riba State Hospital in the capital once the hospital is merged with the TRIHMS, a group of doctors on Thursday described Tayeng’s statement as “a reflection of his frustration.”
“Retention of doctors had never been asked. The bigger and larger question is whether the TRIHMS is equipped enough, in terms of manpower and infrastructure, to deliver health care services in Arunachal Pradesh,” the agitating doctors said.
They said their grievance was over the lack of professors and assistant professors in 15 departments of the TRIHMS.
“How would the TRIHMS be able to start in this condition?” they asked.
“Rather than addressing the issues and answering our questions, the commissioner’s statement is a reflection of his frustration, and he is lashing out at his own staff,” the doctors said.
They revealed that several assistant professors have been recalled by their respective district medical officers, and said the strength of the faculty members reflected in the list submitted to the visiting members of the Medical Council of India (MCI) was misleading.
“If there is to be en masse transfer, as threatened by the commissioner, we are ready to comply with it; but our question is, will the TRIHMS be able to sustain after making the state’s lone referral hospital disappear?” they said.
There are unconfirmed reports that the TRIHMS has an overall deficit of 51 percent with regard to the criteria for issuance of the letter of permission (LoP) by the MCI. However, this could not be verified with the MCI members.
The MCI’s governing body has to take the final call on the issuance of the LoP once the assessment report is submitted by the members who visited the TRIHMS.
‘GoAP answerable’
The Green Arunachal Foundation (GAF) also on Thursday commented on the health commissioner’s statement and said ‘the state government, not a bureaucrat of the department, should be answerable over the tug-of-war between the TRIHMS and the employees of TRSH.’
In a press release GAF chairman Takam Tatung accused the TRIHMS director of feeding false reports to the visiting MCI team regarding the present status of the faculty members of the medical college.
‘A game is being played by those in position for their personal benefits. Even the visiting MCI team has not been allowed to interact with anyone. GAF members who tried to meet them in a city hotel were denied an audience by knife-dangling guards,’ Tatung claimed.
The GAF said it is not against the establishment of a medical college, ‘but everything must be done in a proper manner. The state government, particularly the health department and the TRIHMS director, should take the plight of the employees of the hospital into consideration.’