Hindu Rao doctor’s services terminated for ‘bringing disrepute’

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Thursday terminated the services of a doctor at its Hindu Rao Hospital in Malka Ganj for “bringing disrepute to the institution.” Hindu Rao is a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) screening centre as designated by the Delhi government.

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The DNB (Diplomate of National Board) student concerned, Piyush Pushkar Singh, was serving in the hospital’s orthopaedics department. Amid concern over the lack of quality Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) for doctors here, Singh said that he had “recently procured face shields for his colleagues from an NGO and distributed them, but the authorities took offence.”

“The hospital’s medical superintendent told me to return them. I even tried getting them back but the other doctors refused to return them, and now this has cost me my job,” Singh said.

The north body commissioner, Varsha Joshi, however, said that “Singh diverted donated materials, which were to be entered into the stock of Hindu Rao Hospital, by directly entering into correspondence with the donor agency. This agency was already in communication with the hospital medical superintendent (MS).”

“Singh then proceeded to distribute the materials himself to whomever he pleased. He jumped in out of nowhere…wanting a slice of the glory. All donated material is monitored by me personally. The stocks are maintained meticulously. As can be seen, we thank every donor individually on our official Twitter handle. I can’t allow misappropriation over and above defiance and misbehaviour,” Joshi said.

“Thus, he not only misled the donor, defied the MS, and diverted the material, but also gave it away to people who didn’t need it to the loss of those who needed it more, taking decisions which were nowhere in his purview,” Joshi added in her Twitter posts on the controversy.

Singh had also been served a “show cause notice” on March 16 by the hospital authorities for putting up a video of the hospital ceiling leaking water on the beds of patients, on his social media accounts. The notice had asked him “to explain in 24 hours why he bypassed official channels to air his grievances/complaints”.

Commissioner Joshi, however, denied that there was any link between the earlier notice served to Singh, or the video he circulated, and his termination on Thursday.

Singh said, “I had then written various apology letters and also explained myself before each authority that I did not post the video, but had just shared someone else’s post on my timeline. I was told that the matter had concluded and I continued to go to the office.”