The Doctor’s Association for Social Equality (DASE) has come down heavily on the VIP duty assigned to post graduate students from the RGGGH at Raj Bhavan, after a memo was issued to the PGs for refusing to comply with the duty order.
(L) Petition given by the students; (R) The memo given to the students; R Rajagopal (inset)
Chennai:
For the past two days, a group of post graduate students from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital have been posted on day and night duties for the ailing mother of R Rajagopal, Additional Chief Secretary to Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Divided into a 12-hour shift, the PG students have been assigned to provide bedside care for the patient suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, DASE general secretary, GR Ravindranath said that the action has violated the Medical Council of India’s norms for post graduates and interns gaining experience.
He said, “The PGs are put on shifts to cater to the treatment and medical requirement of patients coming to the hospital. They are required to do duty in general medicine and in different specialties. These norms have been violated blatantly, in order to make them carry out VIP duty.”
He added that such VIP duties set a very bad precedence. “What will happen if other IAS officers also follow such a practice? These PGs have a good set of duties assigned to them from assessment for anesthesia to medication. Their duties cannot be subverted like it has been done at Raj Bhavan.”
The Doctor’s Association for Social Equality (DASE) has come down heavily on the VIP duty assigned to post graduate students from the RGGGH at Raj Bhavan, after a memo was issued to the PGs for refusing to comply with the duty order.
For the past two days, a group of post graduate students from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital have been posted on day and night duties for the ailing mother of R Rajagopal, Additional Chief Secretary to Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Divided into a 12-hour shift, the PG students have been assigned to provide bedside care for the patient suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, DASE general secretary, GR Ravindranath said that the action has violated the Medical Council of India’s norms for post graduates and interns gaining experience.
He said, “The PGs are put on shifts to cater to the treatment and medical requirement of patients coming to the hospital. They are required to do duty in general medicine and in different specialties. These norms have been violated blatantly, in order to make them carry out VIP duty.”
He added that such VIP duties set a very bad precedence. “What will happen if other IAS officers also follow such a practice? These PGs have a good set of duties assigned to them from assessment for anesthesia to medication. Their duties cannot be subverted like it has been done at Raj Bhavan.”
7 PG students who refused to perform duties at Raj Bhavan served with memo
As many as seven post graduates who declined to perform the duties at Raj Bhavan were served with a memo by the Head of Department, Institute of Anesthesiology and Critical Care of the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. However, the memo was revoked after talks with the department heads at the hospital.
A PG student on condition of anonymity said that the patient has been a regular at the hospital and all efforts and resources were diverted to cater to her best requirements, at the cost of public healthcare.
“We have only been receiving oral orders from the HODs. There is a dispensary with a specialist at the Raj Bhavan. Why do they need one doctor from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital? We have also heard from the doctors who were on duty at Raj Bhavan that they were being orally abused by the high-ranking officer. All rules have been twisted to suit his whims and fancies,” the student alleged.