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Chandigarh: GMCH-32 detects impersonation, wants FIR against 6 new nursing hires
GMCH-32 detects discrepancies in photo and signature of one hired candidate; five others resign after hospital launched exercise to verify all candidates’ data
Authorities at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, have sought criminal proceedings against six newly recruited nurses for using unfair means to get the job.
During a verification process after recruitment of nursing officers, GMCH officials noticed discrepancies in the photograph and signature of one candidate.
The person appeared to be different from the photograph on the application form, and the signature submitted at the time of filling the application also did not match on the admit card. There was significant difference in the facial features of the candidate who took the test and the one who showed up to join as a nursing officer.
To check the possibility of more such cases, GMCH authorities constituted a six-member scrutiny committee, headed by a senior professor and comprising officials from the nursing department, recruitment branch and IT department, to collect details of all nursing officers selected on the basis of the written test.
As per hospital authorities, fingerprints and signatures were taken in the presence of the committee to compare them with the data collected during recruitment.
But five candidates did not appear before the committee by taking medical leave and later resigned with a 24-hour notice.
Dr Jasbinder Kaur, director-principal, GMCH, said they had written to the Chandigarh Police to probe all cases where attempts were made to get the job through impersonation. The matter had also been brought to the notice of higher authorities, she said.
“Another exercise will be conducted for verification of each selected candidate through biometric Aadhaar data. The candidates who have already joined have been asked to appear for the process,” she added.
UT adviser Dr Dharam Pal said strict action will be taken in the matter to set an example and deter such attempts in future.
“It is a very serious matter. But alertness of GMCH officials helped check the impersonation attempts. One more round of verification will be undertaken and swift action will be taken against the guilty candidates,” said Yashpal Garg, UT health secretary.
182 nurses hired through written test
GMCH had issued advertisements for recruitment of 182 nursing officers in December 2021. The recruitments were to be done on the basis of merit obtained in a written test and there was no provision of interview. An external agency was hired to conduct the written test, which was held at 39 centres in Chandigarh on August 28, 2022.
A total of 10,594 candidates had appeared for the test, where videography/photography, thumb impression and signature of each candidate were taken.
The successful candidates were called for document verification and counselling that was held in three phases at GMCH. Subsequently, the selected candidates received an offer of appointment and were asked to report for medical examination.
