Lone taker for safety officer’s post rejected

The Delhi government’s desperate attempt to rope in physicists to breathe life into their dying radiotherapy departments has failed yet again.

The Delhi government’s desperate attempt to rope in physicists to breathe life into their dying radiotherapy departments has failed yet again.

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Only one person turned up for the interview for the post of physicist, who is a radiation safety officer, at the Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH) on Thursday.

“He was not up to the mark, so the committee did not select him,” said Dr Amit Banerjee, medical superintendent at LNH, refusing to divulge more information on the rejection.

“We’ll have to wait until June for the new batch of physicists to pass out before re-advertising for the post,” he said. Reacting to Hindustan Times’ story, Needed: License to run, published on April 11, which highlighted the shortage of physicists in government hospitals, LNH had advertised for two positions on April 25.

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Body (AERB) had shut down LNH’s radiotherapy department last year for the want of a physicist. “This was the sixth time in 19 years that LNH’s radiotherapy department was shut down for want of a physicist,” said a member of the Radiation Safety Council of India, requesting anonymity.

LNH hasn’t had a regular physicist for more than two years now.

“For 19 years, physicist recruitment has been happening on ad-hoc basis. Most physicists leave us for lucrative, permanent job offers,” said Dr Kishore Singh, professor, Radiotherapy at LNH.