YCMH professor suspended on charge of sexual abuse of junior doctors

Pune: A professor of Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital was on Friday suspended, pending departmental enquiry, after PCMC' Vishakha Committee found the allegations of sexual misconduct against him to be true.
Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) chief Shekhar Singh signed the suspension letter. It stated that the professor, also a doctor, often made derogatory comments against the postgraduate residents and women doctors, misbehaved in the hospital's operation theatre and made sexist remarks about their physique, and these had been proven.
Singh said the complaints first came through social media and the Vishakha Committee investigation found them to be true.Consequently, the civic body suspended the professor through an order issued on Friday.
Dr Rajendra Wable, the dean of Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH), said, "The doctor joined our hospital in 2020. He was the head of a department until the first enquiry was launched against him. I never received any complaints against him till the social media post became public. Victims started coming out after the Vishakha Committee was constituted. When the committee took them into confidence, doctors started revealing all information and all the stakeholders came forward. I am not sure when this happened because no one made any official complaint."
Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Singh said, "More than one complainant came forward in this matter. I first received information in this case through an anonymous social media post, following which an internal enquiry was conducted. It found that the complaints were indeed serious. Then the Vishakha Committee of PCMC, headed by a woman, investigated the matter and recorded statements of all the victims. The committee had substantial evidence and recommended action against the said person. Then we suspended him until departmental enquiry, which is a standard process, after which the exact punishment would be decided."
The letter of suspension stated that there were complaints against the suspended doctor that he indulged in sexually molesting women residents and conducted alcohol parties. "He created a hostile environment for the women doctors, who were also PG students under him, and abused his power as the head of a department," stated the letter.