Two days after Panchkula civil surgeon Dr Jasjeet Kaur was placed under suspension on the directions of Haryana health minister Anil Vij, the officer has written a letter to the additional chief secretary, health, requesting reinstatement.
Dr Kaur’s suspension order, signed by the superintendent health-1, additional chief secretary, health department, Haryana, was issued on the evening of July 6. “During suspension period, her headquarters is fixed in the office of Director General Health Services, Sector6, Panchkula,” it states.
But the order was not in conformity with the Rules of Business of the state government, wherein the power and authority to decide the proposal of suspension of a Class-1 officer, such as the civil surgeon, lies with the chief minister.
Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker and Panchkula MLA Gian Chand Gupta had confirmed the suspension was a fallout of personal reasons: “It seems Anil Vij had given some direction, which was not followed by her.”
According to people aware of the matter, when the Covid-19 pandemic was at peak, a person had approached the office of civil surgeon for admission with reference of the health minister.
“Before admitting him, Dr Kaur advised him to get tested from the molecular lab and also contacted the lab’s head to help the person. She returned to work and got busy for an hour in a video conference. Meanwhile the person didn’t leave for the test and continued to wait outside her office,” said an official, not wishing to be named.
{{/usCountry}}“Before admitting him, Dr Kaur advised him to get tested from the molecular lab and also contacted the lab’s head to help the person. She returned to work and got busy for an hour in a video conference. Meanwhile the person didn’t leave for the test and continued to wait outside her office,” said an official, not wishing to be named.
{{/usCountry}}When she got free, after confirming whether she received a call, he put the health minister on call with her, the official added.
After an inquiry was marked, Dr Kaur submitted the text messages exchanged with the person, indicating that he was immediately attended to and was asked to get the test done. But a suspension order followed, evoking criticism from various resident associations and the Indian Medical Association.
When contacted, Dr Kaur refused to talk. Vij and Rajeev Arora, Haryana’s additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, did not revert to HT’s attempts to contact them.
Decision has demoralised doctors: HCMS body
The Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association, a body which represents over 3,000 government doctors of Haryana, has come forward in support of Dr Kaur.
Body’s president Dr Jasbir Singh Parmar said the decision was unacceptable and had demoralised doctors, who had been working hard during the pandemic. “Everyone is preparing for the third wave and here a doctor has been suspended after dealing with the first two waves from the front,” he said, adding that they will be writing to the health minister to reinstate the officer.