[ Amar Sangno ]
ITANAGAR, 28 Aug: Once again, Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) has faced allegations of gross manipulation, nepotism and blatant violation of National Medical Commission (NMC) Regulations 2022 by flouting the established recruitment rules in the recruitment process for the Assistant Professor of Statistics in Community Medicine, conducted on August 1, 2024.
It is alleged that the recruitment rules were twisted and flouted to favor two candidates, specifically Dr. Naba Jyoti Saikia and Dr. Krishna Jyoti Nath, for the post of assistant professor of statistics in community medicine. Dr. Saikia, who was working as a demonstrator in the department of community medicine, holds a PhD in Mathematics from Northeast Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli, and Dr. Nath is his junior from the same department.
The three-member scrutiny board, headed by its chairman professor Dr. Ashok Lakhsman Dethe, head of the department of pediatrics, and including Dr. Hage Nobin, associate professor and head of the department of pathology and Dr. Amrita Sarkar, associate professor of community medicine, had shortlisted the eligible candidates on July 27, declaring thirteen candidates eligible for the position of assistant professor of statistics in community medicine.
Interestingly, on July 29, 2024, after the last date for application submission and scrutiny of applications had passed, the names of Dr. Saikia and Dr. Jyoti Nath were published by the scrutiny board as eligible candidates through an addendum. Earlier, their applications had been rejected by the board members on the grounds that both held PhDs in mathematics rather than in statistics.
TRIHMS had issued an advertisement on July 12, 2024, inviting eligible candidates for eighteen disciplines, including assistant professor of statistics in the community medicine department. The last date for application submission was July 27 by 3 pm, and the interview date was scheduled for August 1.
The eligibility criteria were specified as per NMC Regulations 2022, for every vacant post in the recruitment process. According to the NMC’s Post Graduate Medical Education Board, Teachers Eligibility Qualifications in Medical Institutions Regulations 2022, section 3.13, a person with an MSc (health statistics/ medical statistics/ bio statistics/ statistics) with a PhD from a recognized university shall be appointed as an assistant professor of statistics in the department of community medicine.
Sources informed The Arunachal Times that Dr. Saikia and Dr. Nath’s candidacies were made eligible based on certificates issued by dean academic NERIST professor S. Gao. The certificate states that Dr. Saikia completed PhD work titled “Modeling for the Study of Malaria Incidence and Risk Factors of Malaria: A Case Study in Lakhimpur District of Assam,” in the area of statistics under the supervision of professor P.K. Das and co-supervisor professor J. Hazarika from the department of mathematics in 2017.
When contacted, professor Gao maintained, “As stated in the certificate issued under my name, Dr. Nabajyoti Saikia has completed a PhD in statistics, but from the department of mathematics, NERIST, as we do not have a separate statistics department. This is a common practice in IITs and NITs where research is carried out in both mathematics and statistics under the department of mathematics. Regarding other matters such as when he applied for the post and how he was selected, I have no information,” professor Gao further clarified.
It is alleged that when Dr. Saikia and Dr. Nath’s candidacies were rejected by the board members, Dr. Shyamal Bhattacharya, dean of TRIHMS, pressured the board members to reconsider their decision. The dean not only pressured the board members but also went to NERIST along with Dr. Anoop Deb, head of the department of community medicine and candidate Dr. Saikia to collect the certificate issued by dean academic prof. Gao on July 29.
When this daily sought clarification from professor Bhattacharya on the allegations, he responded, “Greetings from TRIHMS. Thank you for your concern. To the best of my knowledge and belief, no wrong has been done. Best wishes.”
However, when confronted with questions about why he went to NERIST with the head of community science and candidate Dr. Saikia to collect the certificate, he retorted, “I went there for verification and to ensure no harm to anyone and to uphold academic ethics.” On violations of NMC regulations and recruitment rules, professor Bhattacharya shifted the responsibility to the scrutiny board and the selection committee, stating that the selection was done by the selection committee.
It is further learned that Dr. Saikia was selected over candidates with proper PhDs in Biostatistics, which is more preferred in medical colleges. One of the candidates among the thirteen applicants was an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientist.
This daily has sent queries to the three scrutiny board members, but none were willing to comment. Dr. Dethe refused to comment, accusing this reporter of not properly identifying themselves and their organization before sending questions, although a proper introduction was sent. It was later found that Dr. Dethe and Dr. Nobin had blocked the WhatsApp number used by this reporter to contact them.
A similar allegation of nepotism and violation of recruitment rules surfaced in TRIHMS during the recruitment for the post of assistant professor in the Biochemistry department. One Dr. Phari Dajangju filed a complaint against a candidate named E. Sruti, who was allowed to appear for the interview and was selected despite not being eligible for the post. It was alleged that Sruti is the wife of the chairman of the scrutiny board for the Biochemistry department, professor Dr. S. Nageswar Rao, raising concerns of nepotism in the selection process. If such blatant violations of NMC regulations continue, the recognition of the college during NMC routine visits might be in serious jeopardy. It is pertinent to mention that TRIHMS operates under societal mode, thus the state government has limited access.
